80 people intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard, 40 people rescued to Lampedusa

01.08.2020 / 19:09 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 31st of July 2020

Case name: 2020_07_3-CM276

Situation: 80 people intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard, 40 people, including 12 women and 4 children, rescued to Lampedusa

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:

Case 1

At about 18:00 CEST, 31 July 2020 we were contacted by people on board a boat in serious distress. The boat and engine had flooded and they were drifting. There were about 80 people on board. They had left from Sabratah about a day and a half previously. They had been drifting with a broken engine for about four hours by the time they contacted us.

Although we were not able to establish an accurate position, the travellers were able to give a rough idea of the location. As they were in serious distress, we contacted the so-called Libyan coastguard. We received no reply to our email and were not able to reach them on the phone. We also contacted the Italian authorities who took the information. They did not acknowledge responsibility or confirm that they would take further steps. We were particularly worried as 31 July was a national holiday in Libya.

At 19:44 we received an accurate position from the travellers, but we were still unable to reach the purported authorities. We also lost contact the boat around 20:00. We tried to contact nearby merchant shipping but received no reply.

Shortly before 13:30 the next day we were able to reach a purported press liaison officer for the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. He informed us that there was a rescue ongoing. He asked us to phone’s back four hours later. At 18:03 the press liaison officer gave us enough information about the rescue that we were really confident that our boat had been intercepted and brought back to Libya. We hope that the people concerned will be able to escape their nightmare situation soon.

Case 2

Just before 22:00 we were contacted by a friend of some travellers in distress. He told us of a boat that was carrying 40 people including 12 women and four children. We later discovered that four of the women were pregnant. We were given the phone number of the boat, but were not able to get in touch immediately. The friend also passed an up-to-date GPS position of the boat. We tried to contact the Maltese authorities, but as usual they would not answer their phone. We sent them the information in an email, copying in the Italian MRCC, Seawatch’s airborne operations and the UNHCR.

At midnight, facing silence from the authorities, we put out the following tweet:

Tonight, #AlarmPhone has been alerted of a boat in distress fleeing #Libya, carrying ~40 people, including 12 women and 4 children. We lost contact with them 1 hour ago. They are in Maltese SAR zone and running out of fuel. Authorities are informed & should search!

We remained in touch with the boat overnight. We received updates about the travellers position and their worsening health condition. One of the pregnant women passed out. We kept passing the information to the MRCC in Malta, but received no reply. Fortunately for the travellers their engine was still working. Despite the worsening seas, they continued into the Italian search and rescue zone. They reached the Italian zone at about 05:30 on 1 August.

Our 05:30 conversation with the boat was our last contact to the travellers. The Italian authorities would not provide information about steps they were taking. We were hopeful that they were carrying out a rescue. Nevertheless we kept up the pressure on the Italian authorities. We tweeted:

Last contact with the ~40 people in distress was at 5.30, after they entered Italian SAR zone. All the night we tried to reach Maltese authorities, and despite being informed they failed to react. Italian authorities are informed. They need to be rescued and taken to safety now!

At around midday we received confirmation that the people had been rescued to Lampedusa.
Last update: 19:07 Dec 05, 2020
Credibility: UP DOWN 0
Layers »
  • Border police patrols
     
    While the exact location of patrols is of course constantly changing, this line indicates the approximate boundary routinely patrolled by border guards’ naval assets. In the open sea, it usually correspond to the outer extent of the contiguous zone, the area in which “State may exercise the control necessary to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws” (UNCLOS, art. 33). Data source: interviews with border police officials.
  • Coastal radars
     
    Approximate radar beam range covered by coastal radars operating in the frame of national marine traffic monitoring systems. The actual beam depends from several different parameters (including the type of object to be detected). Data source: Finmeccanica.
  • Exclusive Economic Zone
     
    Maritime area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea in which the coastal state exercises sovereign rights for the purposes of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, the seabed and its subsoil and the superjacent waters. Its breadth is 200 nautical miles from the straight baselines from which the territorial sea is measured (UNCLOS, Arts. 55, 56 and 57). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans
  • Frontex operations
     
    Frontex has, in the past few years, carried out several sea operations at the maritime borders of the EU. The blue shapes indicate the approximate extend of these operations. Data source: Migreurop Altas.
  • Mobile phone coverage
     
    Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network coverage. Data source: Collins Mobile Coverage.
  • Oil and gas platforms
     
    Oil and gas platforms in the Mediterranean. Data source:
  • Search and Rescue Zone
     
    An area of defined dimensions within which a given state is has the responsibility to co-ordinate Search and Rescue operations, i.e. the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger. Data source: IMO availability of search and rescue (SAR) services - SAR.8/Circ.3, 17 June 2011.
  • Territorial Waters
     
    A belt of sea (usually extending up to 12 nautical miles) upon which the sovereignty of a coastal State extends (UNCLOS, Art. 2). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans

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