13/11: 90 people, including 20 women and twelve children fleeing Libya intercepted. Two people died

14.11.2020 / 21:53 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – November 13th 2020

Case name: 2020_11_13-CM330

Situation: 90 people intercepted by the so called Libyan coast guard, two people did not survive.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Position : 33.66667, 12.68333

At 12.02 CET November 13th Alarmphone was called by a relative of a person in distress in the Mediterranean. According to the relative, the boat carried 90 people including 20 women and twelve children. When they had lost contact to the boat at 10.00 CET water had started to enter the boat. The caller also relayed a GPS position from earlier the same morning. We passed on the information to authorities via e-mail. Throughout the afternoon we were unable to establish contact to the boat. We tried to contact the so called Libyan coast guard but remained unsuccessful. At 16.25 CET we reached an operator of the so called Libyan coast guard who informed us they had received knowledge of this case from the Italian coast guard some minutes before our call and would head there shortly.

Media reports published in the night November 13th / 14th strongly suggest the boat was intercepted by the so called Libyan coast guard and returned to the hell of Libyan detention centres. In the early morning of November 14th a relative of people on the boat called Alarmphone and confirmed this information. They also related the death of two people who had tried to escape Libya on this boat.

Twitter Chronology:

13.15 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1327224355676442626?s=09

Last update: 23:08 Feb 23, 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