Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 16th August 2020

Case name: 2020_08_16-CM282

Situation: A boat carrying 40 travellers was probably rescued to Lampedusa. Confirmation missing. 85 travellers rescued to Lampedusa.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Sunday the 16th of August the Alarm Phone was alerted to two boats in distress. Both boats were probably rescued to Lampedusa, however for the first boat, carrying 40 travellers, confirmation is missing.

At approximately 21:30h CEST of Sunday the 16th of August the Alarm Phone was called by 40 travellers in distress that had departed from Libya. They had finished their petrol and the boat was drifting. After having lost contact with the travellers we alerted both the Italian and Maltese coastguards at 00:17h. One hour later we managed to re-establish contact with the travellers, they told us that they at been at sea since more than four days and they had no fuel, no food and no water left. However, due to bad connection we could not get their updated GPS position. Finally, when at 01:45h we managed to receive their new position, we immediately passed it on to Italian and Maltese authorities. At 02:08h we received an updated GPS position which was, however, the same as the last one, suggesting that the boat was no longer moving. At 02:16h we tried to call the Maltese coastguard but no one picked up the phone. At 02:25h we called the Italian coastguard who however did not give us any information. During the hours that followed we tried to contact the travellers several times, however we were only able to reach them at 05:19h, when they told us that they were near Lampedusa. Unfortunately the line cut before they could give us their GPS coordinates. The same thing happened at 06:20h and 06:27h. At 06:34h we were finally able to obtain their updated position in Maltese SAR zone, the motor was once again working. After passing on this information, we called the Italian coastguard who did not share any updates on possible search and rescue operations. Again, at 07:53h we received new coordinates which we passed on to authorities, at this point the motor had stopped working again and the boat was drifting. At 08:10h the Italian coastguard confirmed that they were aware of the updates. At 09:34h we published a tweet informing about the case. After having completely lost contact with the travellers during the rest of the day, around 16h we received the information that a boat carrying 40 travellers, including 5 children, had been rescued to Lampedusa. Although we were never able to receive confirmation from the travellers themselves, we believe that this boat rescued to Lampedusa is probably our boat.

Around the same time, 21:30h, the Alarm Phone was called by the relative of a traveller in distress. We were immediately able to establish direct contact with the boat in distress that had departed from Zuwara the previous night, carrying around 85 travellers including around 15 women and children. The boat was wooden, the engine was no longer working and waves were very high, the people on board were panicking and desperately requesting help. Although the connection was bad so we could not confirm the information we understood, at 22:08h we alerted Italian and Maltese authorities passing on all the information we had including their GPS position, in Maltese Search and Rescue zone. When at 22:18h we received an updated position we immediately passed it on to authorities, during this second call the travellers really stressed the urgency of their situation and told us that they could sink very soon. Around 22:30h we called both the Maltese and Italian coastguards who took all the information we gave them. At 22:48h we published the first of a series of tweets informing about the situation. At 23:03h we received new GPS coordinates, we could see that the merchant vessel “CONTSHIP RAY” was in proximity of the boat in distress. At 23:32h we passed on the new positions to authorities also mentioning the presence of the merchant vessel nearby. Approximately 30 minutes later we again spoke to the travellers who were very scared and exhausted, they gave us a new positions that we immediately passed on to Maltese and Italian authorities via email. We then tried to call back the Maltese coastguard but our calls remained unanswered. At 00:10h we were called by the Italian coastguard who asked us for updates as their email was not working, we thus passed on the latest position. The officer told us that the boat was in Maltese SAR so it was their responsibility to conduct a rescue operation, when we answered that Malta was not picking up our calls the officer said that he would try to contact Malta himself. In the meantime our shift team also tried to contact the company of the nearby merchant vessel via phone and email. We were told that the office was closed but that the office guard who answered our call would try to find a contact to the vessel. Soon after we were given the number of someone from the company, when we called him at 00:47 the person told us that as they had not received instructions from Malta to assist the boat, they could not change their route. At this point the Maltese coastguard was still not picking up the phone. At 01:05h we therefore contacted the Italian coastguard again, they took our information but declined responsibility as the boat was in Maltese SAR zone. At 01:55h our shift team spoke again to the travellers who passed on a new position and told us that a lot of water was entering the boat. After again attempting, with no success, to reach the Maltese coastguard by phone at 02:25h we sent an email with the updated coordinates. At 03:00h we called again the person from the company owning the merchant vessel “CONTSHIP RAY”. The person from the company told us that they had received instructions from Malta to search for the boat in distress! The vessel was thus doing search patterns. With this new information we immediately called the travellers and asked them to try and make some light so that the merchant vessel could spot them more easily. After receiving a new position at 03:44h we passed it on to authorities and to the shipping company so that “CONTSHIP RAY” could adjust its course accordingly. During all of this time the Maltese coastguard was still not picking up the phone. At 04:45h we spoke again to the travellers, they were still very agitated but could now see 6 red lights, they were trying to attract the vessel’s attention. They also sent us a new position that we passed on to authorities and to the company of the merchant vessel. Early in the morning we tried to contact the Maltese Coastguard unsuccessfully. The Italian coastguard picked up our calls but did not provide us with any information concerning the rescue operation. We spoke again several times to the travellers who told us that they could see the vessel in front of them, they were agitated as nothing was happening so we tried to calm them down, telling them to not move or stand up. Finally, at 07:25h we managed to speak to the Maltese coastguards, who registered our concerns but still did not confirm that they would perform a SAR Mission. At 08:30h we spoke again to the travellers who told us that they were heading towards Lampedusa as it was too risky to just wait as the waves were really high. They told us that many people were sick and some might have already died, we could hear that people were crying in the background. During the following calls at 09:30h, 10:00h, 11:45h we managed to get updated GPS positions that we again passed on to authorities. During the following hours contact with the travellers became difficult as connection was bad. Finally, at 13:13h we managed to get a new position which was now in Italian SAR. At 13:20h we alerted the authorities via email. At 14:00h our shift team spoke again to the travellers, the situation was getting really bad, especially as they had not drank any water since many ours, they told us that small children could die of thirst very soon. At 14:15h we called the Italian coastguard who took the information we gave but did not answer whether they would send an asset to rescue. At 14:31h we sent the number of the Italian coastguard to the travellers so that they could call them directly. After this we lost contact to the travellers. In the evening we received confirmation from the relative that had first contacted us that the travellers had been rescued and brought to Lampedusa.