Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 03rd July 2020
Case name: 2020_07_03-CM260
Situation: 52 travellers from Garabouli were rescued by merchant vessel Talia in Maltese SAR zone.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: In the very early morning of Friday the 3rd of July, the Alarm Phone was called by a boat in distress that had left two days earlier from Garabuli, Libya. The blue, wooden boat was carrying 52 travelers including one woman and one child. The travellers told us that 4 people were sick and that they had no more food and water. Due to the high waves and strong winds the travellers had stropped the engine for fear of sinking. At 05:29h we alerted the Maltese and Italian coastguard, as well as NGO rescue boats and UNHCR. At 7:44h and 8:00h we manages to re-establish contact with the travellers, who gave us a new GPS position, they were very worried as water was entering the boat. At 08:28h passed on this new information to authorities and NGOs. At 08:38h we reached the Italian coastguard by phone, the officer copied the most recent position but told us that the boat was in the Maltese Search and Rescue zone . At 08:48h we received new coordinates from the travellers. At 08:49h we called the Maltese coastguard who, however, refused to talk to us. At 08:56h we forwarded the new position to authorities and NGOs. At 09:16h we called again the Italian coastguard who only told us that the Maltese were aware of the case. At 09:20h we tweeted informing about the case. At 09:22h we were alerted that the NGO airplane Seabird took off and was going to search for the boat. At 09:53h we spoke to the travellers; they could see a plane (presumably Seabird), as well as a big white and black ship, however their boat was so full of water that they could no longer move. Checking their position, we saw that the ship in question was probably the Lebanese-flagged boat “Talia” (livestock carrier). At 10:27h we sent an email to authorities and NGOs with this new information, and asking the coastguards to advice the Capitan of Talia to assist the boat in distress. At 10h48 the travellers gave us an updated position with we forwarded to authorities. At 11:20h the travellers told us that it seemed that the ship was leaving without engaging in a rescue operation. At 11:21h the Alarm Phone was copied in an email sent by the airborne operation of the NGO aircraft Seabird to the Maltese coastguard. Seabird was informing the coastguard that the distress case was in their search and rescue area, that seabird aircraft was on scene and that Talia was sheltering the boat from wind and waves. Talia had a broken antenna and no signal so they could not contact the Maltese coastguard themselves. The Seabird crew was relaying the information. Talia had communicated to Seabird that they could take the people on board and proceed to Lampedusa in order to be able to talk to Malta. At 11:46h we were contacted by the Designated Person Ashore (DPA) of Talia who could not reach the Capitan. We explained that according to us, the best thing would be to come close to the boat with dinghies, to go back and forth several times and to repeat to people to stay calm and not jump in the water. At 12:20h we called the Italian coastguard who refused to take the case in charge as the boat was in Maltese SAR zone. We also called Maltese coastguard who again refused to talk to us. After having lost contact with the travellers for several hours at 14:26h our shift team manages to speak to them again, they told us “they were with the ship” and we received a new GPS position. We immediately passed on this updated GPS position to authorities. Approximately one hour later we spoke to the travellers again, they were still with Talia and again gave us new coordinates. Again, we forwarded the position to authorities. At 16:30h we called the travellers again, their engine was no longer working and “the big ship” had moved away from them. During the hours that followed we continued to keep contact with the travellers encouraging them to stay calm and strong as they were waiting for rescue. At 18:19h we were copied in an email from Moonbird informing that the DPA of Talia was relying the information between Talia and the Maltese coastguard, who was refusing to speak to Moonbird staff. Moonbird also informed that while no Maltese vessel was on site, the Capitan and DPA of Talia had informed them that Malta had instructed Talia to monitor the situation and that a Maltese patrol boat was on the way to the scene. At 21:17h we called the Maltese coastguard who did not give us any information but told us that they were working on the case. By this point we had lost contact with the travellers. At 22:26 we spoke to Talia who informed us that the 52 travellers in total, including 12 women, were on board and well! They had been asked by Malta to not leave the area as they would come to rescue the people on board. During the night we followed Talia’s course on line and could see that while initially heading towards Lampedusa in the early morning they were clearly heading towards Malta. At 08:40 the following morning the shipping company of Talia informed us that the travellers had been disembarked around 1am near Lampedusa and picked up by an Italian coastguard vessel. At 08:45h we spoke to the Italian coastguard as we were looking for confirmation that the travellers had been disembarked, however the officer on duty refused to give us any information. At 09:42h we were called by Talia’s shipping company office as they had been in touch with the Capitan of the vessel who informed them that the Italian coastguard had stopped them and prevented them to enter Italian waters, asking them to go to Malta. When the vessel was close to Malta, they were again told that they were not allowed to enter. We were told that the plans of the vessel were unsure but that the travellers might be brought back to Libya if no port of disembarkation was found. At 11:05 we spoke to the Spanish coastguard asking if they could assign a safe port, as the intended destination of Talia was Spain. We were told that responsibility was on Italy and Malta, however the officer finally agreed that we send them the information about the situation which would be forwarded to authorities. At 11:44h we sent the email. At the same time we received an email from Talia, and also addressed to authorities, explaining what had happened the previous night and asking for advice on what to do. At 12:40h the Spanish coastguard answered the email declining responsibility, and stating that the rescue had occurred in Libyan SAR zone. Our shift team replied to this email highlighting that the rescue had occurred in Maltese SAR zone and highlighting that Libya could not be considered a safe port. We published several tweets informing about what was happening. Only at 19:58h Malta replied to the email stating that winds would make transfer and evacuation dangerous and asking Talia Capitan if urgent cases could wait the following day. While during ta storm and late at night, Talia was allowed to dock in Malta, the travellers were still not allowed to disembark.