Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 28th of May 2020

Case name: 2020-05-28-CM251
Situation: 50 travelers (nine women (two of them pregnant) and three children) left from Zawija, Libya, arrived autonomously on Lampedusa; 46 travelers left from Libya, arrived autonomously on Lampedusa.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Cases:
On 28 May 2020, the Alarm Phone was contacted in two cases of distress in the Mediterranean Sea:
The first call reached us from the Maltese Search and Rescue zone in the early morning from 50 travelers who had left from Zawija, Libya. We informed the Maltese and Italian authorities about the case. During the day, authorities refused to share information about the rescue procedures with us and the travelers underlined their fear to be pushed back to Libya. Only in the evening we learned that the travelers had arrived autonomously on Lampedusa.
The second call came in at 18:25h CEST from a group of 46 travelers who had started from Libya. We informed the Maltese, Italian and Libyan authorities and at midnight we concluded from observing the landings in the port of Lampedusa, that the people had arrived there autonomously.

Case 1:
At 06:30h CEST the Alarm Phone was contacted by a group of approximately 50 travelers, among them nine women (two of them pregnant) and three children. They had started from Zawija, Libya the night before. They were very tired and running out of fuel. They sent us a GPS location in the Maltese Search and Rescue zone. They asked for help and wanted to call the Maltese Coastguard. We passed them the phone number. At 06:54h we sent an e-mail to the Sea Rescue Coordination actors of Malta and Italy informing about the people in distress. At 06:58h we called the Maltese Coastguard who first refused to talk to us and then said they had not received our e-mail. We sent it again. At 07:10h we talked to the travelers again. They had not reached the Maltese Coastguard. We informed them that we had talked to the Maltese authorities and we agreed to talk again in 30 minutes. At 08:43h we received a new GPS location from the boat. The travelers reported to be very hungry and thirsty and underlined their fear to be returned to Libya. At 10:21h we sent an e-mail to the Maltese and Italian authorities, including the updated GPS location, stating that we were aware of the travelers having reached the Maltese Search and Rescue zone and asking for a confirmation of the launch of a rescue operation to bring them to Malta. At 10:45h we received a new GPS location from the travelers. They said their fuel was almost empty, as well as the phone battery. They had not seen any rescue vessel or plane yet and were more and more exhausted. Again, they stressed to not want to be returned to Libya. We only got through to them again at 12:20h with a bad connection. They reported to be in no good condition and to have seen a helicopter some time ago. We received new GPS coordinates. At 12:47h we sent an updated e-mail to the Maltese and Italian authorities. At 12:58h we called the Italian Coastguard, who stated the boat was in the Maltese SAR zone and Malta was responsible. At 13:05h we called the Maltese Coastguard who refused to talk to us and to copy the updated coordinates. At 13:20h we talked to the travelers, asked for a new GPS location and they reported that people were feeling more and more sick. We sent another updated e-mail to the Maltese and Italian authorities at 13:51h. At 14:38h we tried to talk to the Maltese Coastguard on the phone again. They refused it and said if we had new information, we should send it via e-mail. At 14:45h the travelers told us that they had run out of fuel and were drifting now. They also described the color of their boat. At 14:47h we sent the new information to the authorities via e-mail. At 15:50h the Alarm Phone via Twitter raised public attention for the refusal of the authorities to talk to us and to provide any information on the rescue operations in their SAR zone. During the next hours, we could not re-establish a connection to the travelers and the Maltese authorities did not provide us any information if a rescue was in progress. Regarding a journalist’s report on social media, we eventually concluded in the evening that the people had arrived autonomously in Lampedusa.

Case 2:
At 18:25h CEST our shift team was called by a group of 46 travelers in distress. They had started from Libya the day before in a fiber glass boat. Their motor was still working, but they did not have food, nor water or life vests, and asked for help. They transmitted their GPS location to us. At 18:37h we sent an e-mail with all information to the Maltese, Italian and Libyan authorities, asking for a coordination of the rescue. Due to technical issues we could not call the travelers, and at 19:43h they called us and transmitted their updated GPS location. At 20:11h we sent the updated location to the authorities via e-mail. From then on, we could not re-establish the contact to the travelers. At 00:07h we concluded from observing the landings in the port of Lampedusa, that the people had arrived there autonomously. We could not receive a confirmation of this from the travelers themselves.