Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 26th February 2020
Case name: 2020_02_26-CM236
Situation: Although not confirmed, 35 travellers were probably rescued and pushed-back to Libya by a merchant vessel owned by a German shipping company.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: In the late morning of Wednesday the 26th of February the Alarm Phone was alerted, by Father Zerai, to a boat in distress in the central Mediterranean sea. Father Zerai had already alerted the Maltese and Italian authorities about this distress case at 10h51. Our shift team tried to establish contact with the travellers several times, however connection was bad so it was very difficult to understand each other. In the afternoon we received a GPS position, because of the strong winds the people were very scared. At 16h17 we alerted Italian and Maltese coastguards. After receiving an updated GPS position at 17h30 we forwarded it to the authorities. At 17h45 we published the first of a series of tweets informing about the situation. At 18h00 we spoke again to the travellers who were desperate as the engine was no longer working, they were drifting and water was continuing to enter the boat. At 19h52 we also altered the so-called Libyan coastguard about the distress case. As we saw that a commercial vessel, OOC Tiger, was in proximity of the boat we tried to contact the shipping company, OOC Opielok Offshore Carriers, several times and on different numbers, however they were never reachable. At 20h20 we called the so-called Libyan coastguard who told us that they had received our email and would soon reply by email. At this point we were no longer able to speak to the travellers. At 21h38 as we had not received a response from the so-called Libyan coastguard, we called again and they told us that there was no ongoing rescue operation. At 21h57 we managed to speak again to the travellers who were desperate for help. After having again lost contact with the travellers, and not being able to reach the so-called Libyan coastguard, at 04h07 we called the Italian coastguard who however only told us that they had no new information. The following morning, the 27th of February, the travellers were still unreachable. After several attempts at 12h07 we managed to speak to the so-called Libyan coastguard who told us that a boat carrying between 30 and 40 travellers had been “rescued” and was on the way back to Tripoli, although the number people on board did not coincide with our case, the officer was sure it was the boat we had been altered to. However, at 14h05 the travellers called us again and confirmed that they were still at sea and that they could see a merchant vessel which had a US flag. Although we spoke to them three times, unfortunately connection was very bad and we were not able to retrieve additional information such as GPS coordinates. At 15h20 and 15h28 our shift team phoned Italian and Maltese coastguards, passed on the new information and requested that they send out a Navtex message, unfortunately neither coastguard confirmed that they would do this. At 15h46 we sent an email to authorities with the new information and again asking them to send a Navtext message to all vessels in proximity. Knowing that the merchant vessel that the travellers could see was most probably OOC Tiger we found out that it was a Liberian vessel, with a flag similar to that of the US. At 16h30 we therefore sent an email to authorities clarifying this information. We also sent an email to the shipping company owning OOC Tiger, OOC Opielok Offshore Carriers, altering them to the distress case. At 16h33 Opielok confirmed over the phone that they had already been alerted by the coast guard. At 17h04 the so-called Libyan coastguard informed us that a boat carrying 35 travellers had just been brought back to Libya, however at 19h38 we received the information that the boat was green, which contradicted the information about our case, however the nationalities of people on board coincided with the information we had. At 20h26 we saw a tweet from IOM (International Organisation for Migration) informing that 35 migrants had been rescued by a merchant vessel and returned to Tripoli. Although we did not receive confirmation from Opielok company themselves, who refused provide us with any information, it was reported that the rescue and push-back had been indeed carried out by OOC Tiger. Although not confirmed, it is therefore likely that the boat we were alerted to was carrying 35 travellers and has been pushed-back to the Libyan hell by the merchant vessel OOC Tiger, owned by the commercial company Opielok.