26/10: 87 travellers rescued to Lampedusa

27.10.2020 / 18:53 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 01st November 2020

Case name: 2020_11_01-CM312

Situation: A boat carrying 87 people was finally rescued to Lampedusa by the
Italian coastguard.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: Around 13h30 CET of Monday the 26th of October the Alarm Phone was called by a boat in distress carrying around 100 travellers, including 5 women and 7 children. The boat had departed from Zuwara early in the morning of the previous day. At 14h22 our shift team informed Italian and Maltese coastguard via email and passed on all the information we had, including GPS position (in Maltese Search and Rescue area) and satellite phone number. Soon after we called both Italian and Maltese coastguards, the Italian coastguard did not give us any further information but confirmed reception of our email, the Maltese told us that they had engaged in rescue operations that day but could not give us further information at the moment. At 15h10 we published a tweet informing about the situation. At 15h40 we managed to speak to the travellers again who gave us new GPS coordinates which we passed on to authorities. At 16h00 the Maltese coastguard told us by phone that they were working on this case. At 17h20 again we spoke to the travellers who told us that they had two engines, but one was not working and they were running our of fuel. They also gave us a new GPS position and to their request we passed on the phone number of the Maltese coastguard. At 17h31 we sent an email to authorities with this additional information. After receiving another updated GPS position we again passed it on to authorities. At this point the Maltese
coastguard was no longer picking up the phone. At 18h55 we received
an email from the NGO aircraft Moonbird that they had spotted a boat
that seemed to correspond to our case, the boat was 46 nautical miles from Lampedusa. Our shift team continuously tried to re-establish contact with the travellers but never managed to. During the evening we also tried to contact the Maltese coastguard several times in order to get information on a possible rescue operation, however,
nobody answered our calls. In the meantime several worried relatives
of travellers contacted us asking if we had news on their dear ones.
During the night we received confirmation from an Italian NGO
That the boat had been rescued to Lampedusa ! Finally, it was
confirmed that the people on board were 87.

Twitter Chronology:

26/10
15:10 https://mobile.twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1320729461613121536
18:23
https://mobile.twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1320778130320203777
22:39
https://mobile.twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1320842579932569606

27/10
07:11
https://mobile.twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1320971289977409536

Last update: 09:15 Feb 15, 2021

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