03/09: Around 90 people including 19 women and five children reached Lampedusa

04.09.2020 / 13:56 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – September 3rd 2020
Case name: 20200903-CM291
Situation: 90 people arrived safely to Lampedusa
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean
Summary of Case
At 13.30 CET on September 3rd Alarmphone was alerted to a boat in distress carrying between 90 and 100 people including 19 women and five children. At the time of the alert people on the boat reported that the sea was very rough and water was entering the boat. We received a GPS position which was forwarded to authorities at 13.47 CET. We attempted to establish contact with RCC Malta throughout the next hour but our calls remained unanswered. Upon calling MRCC Rome the operator informed us the boat was in the Maltese SAR zone. We received updated GPS positions twice, which were forwarded to authorities. We lost contact to the boat at 14.35 CET. Throughout the evening we tried to obtain information on any ongoing rescue operations from authorities but were refused any information. In the evening media reports confirm the safe arrival of all 90 people to Lampedusa.

Twitter Chronology:

13.58 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1301489792673349632

14.38 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1301499824609652738

21.45 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1301607364278259714

Credibility:

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