Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 25th of May 2020

Case name: 2020-05-25-CM249
Situation: 91 travelers (30 women) rescued by merchant vessel MS Anne and returned to Libya despite discussion with the shipping company; 80 travelers started from Garabuli, returned by themselves to Libya
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Cases:
On 25 May 2020, the Alarm Phone worked on two cases of distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea: The first call reached us in the morning, from 91 travelers, among them approximately 30 women. Our shift team informed Libyan, Italian and Maltese authorities, but it took hours to receive a confirmation that a rescue operation was launched. Our shift team was in contact with the company of the merchant vessel MS Anne in the vicinity of the travelers and stressed the obligation to bring the rescued to a save European port. Nevertheless, the people were brought back to Misrata, Libya.
At 23:37h we received a second call from 80 travelers who had departed from Garabuli, Libya. We informed the Libyan authorities, but only the next day we learned that the people had not yet been rescued and no Search and Rescue operation was in progress. In the evening we received the information that the travelers had returned to Libya by themselves.

Case 1
At 10:20h CEST our shift team received a distress call from 91 travelers, among them approximately 30 women. The situation on baord was very agitated, people were panicking and urgently asking for help. They told us that water was entering the boat and persons had already died. They reported to not have much battery in the phone left and that their engine stopped working. They described their boat as black rubber boat. They passed us a GPS location and asked us to inform rescue authorities.
At 10:43h we sent an e-mail to Libyan, Italian and Maltese authorities, informing about the case.
At 10:45h we tried to inform the Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) Malta via phone call but did not get through. We tried to call the so-called Libyan Coastguard, as well as alternative numbers of the Maltese Rescue Coordination, but without success. Several attempts to call the authorities in the different countries were unsuccessful. At 11:01h the Alarm Phone sent out a Tweet to raise public attention for the people in distress. At 11:09h our shift team reached the Italian Coastguard via phone call and passed on the information on the case. They did not tell us if they would take over the coordination of the rescue. Meanwhile we could not get through to the travelers on the sea anymore. At 11:40h we sent out an e-mail to all sea rescue actors, underlining the urgency of the case and the fact that, so far, we had not received any confirmation that a rescue operation was started. We informed them also about three vessels in the area of the distress case that could be instructed to assist the people. At 12:15h we called the shipping company of the merchant vessel MS Anne. They informed us that the RCC Malta had instructed their vessel to move to the coordinates indicated by the people in distress. We still did not get through to the travelers. At 12:55h we called the sipping company again who refused to share information and referred us to the Maltese Coastguard. At 13:10h we sent an e-mail to the company making them aware and reminding them of the non-refoulement-duty in the international refugee law and the human rights obligation to bring refugees to a place of safety. We made clear that this means that a shipping company can not be legally forced to return rescued people to Libya and is even obliged to bring them to a European harbor. We tried to get through to the Libyan authorities continuously without success. The Maltese Coastguard did not answer our phone calls either. At 14:43h we talked to the Libyan authorities who informed us that the so-called Libyan Coastguard coordinated the rescue in cooperation with MS Anne. At 16:08h the Alarm Phone tweeted about the case to stress the humanitarian imperative not to return the rescued to Libya. At 16:20h we talked to the shipping company again. They confirmed they had received the order to rescue the travelers from Maltese authorities and the order to return them to Libya from Libyan authorities. They stated to be aware that Libya is not a safe country, but that the rescued people could not stay on board their ship for too long. They refused further discussions and referred to the Maltese Coastguard. At 17:05h our shift team contacted the Portuguese MRCC as Portugal had just publicly offered to take in migrants. They agreed to see what they could do. At 19:19h we sent an e-mail to all actors involved so far, summarizing the events of the case and calling for a transfer of the rescued to a European country, respecting the human rights and international sea law. We still could not get through to the travelers, neither to the shipping company. At 20:55h the UNHCR Malta confirmed the rescue via e-mail and informed us that the people would be returned to Misrata, Libya.

Case 2
At 23:37h CEST our shift team was called by a group of 80 travelers, among them women and children, departed from Garabuli, Libya more then 24 hours ago. They reported that they were drifting with a broken engine and did not have much phone battery left. They were still in the Libyan Search-and-Rescue-Zone, so we tried to alert the Libyan authorities at 23:52h, but different contact numbers did not work. At 23:58h we got through to the so-called Libyan Coastguard who reported the rescue of a boat whose passengers would be brought to Misrata. Due to language difficulties we could not receive more information on the case and called back at 00:45h with an Arabic translator. It could still not be clarified if the rescued people were the ones who had called us in this case. We could not get through to the travelers during the night. The next morning at 11:16h, we talked to the so-called Libyan Coastguard again and learned that only the 91 people from our first case had been rescued during the night. At 13:04h we sent an e-mail to the Italian, Maltese and Libyan authorities with all our information on the case, asking them to take action. At 14:21h we called the Italian MRCC who told us to call back later. At 18:22h we talked to the Libyan authorities and learned that they still had not rescued further boats and they had not launched further Search and Rescue operations. At 18:38h we sent another e-mail to all sea rescue actors, to make them aware that the people were probably still out on the water. At 18:54h we received the information that the travelers had returned to Libya by themselves.