Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 19th of September 2020

Case name: 20200919-CM301

Situation: 19 travellers rescued by Sea Eye, 51 travellers rescued by Libyan fishermen whilst three travellers remain missing.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Cases:

On Saturday the 19th of September, we were alerted to two distress cases. A boat with 19 travellers was rescued by Sea Eye, whilst 51 travellers was rescued by Libyan fishermen, who unfortunately were not able to rescue three travellers from the boat who disappeared.

At 18.57 CEST the Alarm Phone shift team was contacted by a boat in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. The travellers had left from Zuwarah, Libya, the previous night. They were 19 people on board the boat; five men, four women, nine children and a baby. The travellers forwarded us their current position and told us that two of the children were sick. At 19.20 we sent an email to the so-called Libyan coastguard, and forwarded a copy of the email to the rescue NGOs Sea Eye and Sea Watch. At 19.53 we managed to speak to the travellers again and received a new position, which we immediately forwarded to the rescue authorities. At 21.44 we read a publication on facebook that the Sea Eye had rescued the travellers, who were now onboard their vessel Alan Kurdi.

At 19.56 CEST we learned via twitter that a Libyan fisherman had come across a sinking boat with 54 travellers. He had rescued 21 travellers, all four women and 14 men, but had to leave the others behind. The fisherman had alerted the so-called Libyan coastguard but feared that they were not intervening. We tried to call the so-called Libyan coastguard, but were not able to reach them. At 21.06 we called the Italian coastguard, but they only told us that the case was the responsibility of Libya. At 21.12 we tweeted about the case, attempting to raise awareness about the lack of intervention by the rescue authorities. At 21.16 we sent an email to all relevant rescue authorities as well as the civil rescue NGOs Sea Watch and Sea Eye, urging them to take action in order to save the lives of the remaining travellers. In a call to the so-called Libyan coastguard at 21.34 they informed us that two rescue operations had been carried out, but could not give us further details. In the meantime, the fisherman was trying to find out if any of his colleagues had rescued the rest of the travellers on the boat. At 00.45 the fisherman confirmed to us that his colleagues had indeed carried out the rescue mission; however, it remaind unclear if everyone had safely disembarked. The following day at 15.41 we learned that the fishermen had rescued 30 travellers, but that three had disappeared; two men from Ivory Coast and one from Sudan. The lives of these three persons might have been saved if the so-called Libyan Coastguard had not refused to intervene, leaving it to fishermen to search for the shipwrecked. This is yet another avoidable tragedy in the Mediterranean. Our thoughts and solidarity are with the friends and families of the victims of the deathly European border regime.