Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 20th of September 2020

Case name: 20200920-CM302

Situation: 30-40 travellers left adrift for many hours before finally being rescued and brought to Lampedusa.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Cases:

On Sunday the 20th of Septemer at 13.56 CEST, the Alarm Phone shift team received a call from a relative, alerting us to a boat with around 30-40 travelers on board. The travelers had left from west of Zuwarah at 23h Libyan time the night before on a blue wooden boat. We were additionally forwarded a position from 12.37 CEST. Our shift team was not able to reach the travelers. At 14.28 we received an email from Seabird, which was also sent to both Maltese and Italian rescue authorities. It stated that Seabird had spotted a boat matching our description in Maltese waters, that the boat was still moving, and that only a few travelers were wearing life vests. At 15.28 our shift team managed to establish contact to the travelers, but the connection was so bad that it was impossible to understand anything. Ten minutes later we reached the travelers again, and this time we were able to receive their updated position. Further, they told us that they were not doing well, that they had neither food nor water and that it was very hot. In the background we could hear the engine running. At 16.32 we attempted to call the Maltese coastguard but were not able to reach them. We therefore sent an email with all the information we had about the case to both Maltese and Italian rescue authorities, and at 17.07 we published a tweet about the situation. At 17.15 we spoke to the travelers again, and they told us that their engine had broken down and they were now left adrift. Our shift team searched on marinetraffic for merchant vessels close to the travellers. At 18.32 we contacted the shipping company owning the merchant vessel Valle di Nervion, informing them about the distress situation close to their vessel. We continued our attempts to reach the Maltese coastguard without sucess, so we sent another email to the relevant rescue authorities urging them to commence search and rescue. At 18.40 we reached the travellers again, and they informed us that their engine was working
again and provided their position. Shortly after, the relative informed us that they had managed to reach the Maltese coastguard and forwarded all information about the distress case via phone. At 21.08, after hours of not being able to reach the travellers, we spoke to them on the phone again. They gave us their updated position, showing that they were 32 nautical miles from Lampedusa. They also told us that they had only 22 litres of fuel left, that it was raining and waves were getting higher and they feared for their lives. We immediately passed on this information via email to the rescue authorities. At 23.40 we managed to reach the coastguard of Lampedusa, who confirmed to us that they would commence a search and rescue operation. We also informed them that, according to the relative, one child on the boat was in a very critical condition. We were able to forward updated positions to the coastguard whilst they were searching. At 01.33 the relative informed us that the travellers had been rescued, which was confirmed by the coastguard of Lampedusa a few minutes later.