Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 25th December 2020
Case name: 2020_12_25-CM336
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 13 travellers in distress in the Central Med, after days we had to close the case without knowing their fate.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Friday the 25th of December at 23.10 CET, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a boat carrying 13 people, one woman, nine men and two children. The travellers had left the same morning at 02.00 CET from Sabratha on a while fiberglass boat and were heading towards Malta. The relative informed us that they had last spoken to the boat at 05.30 CET. Unlike what is usually the case on this long journey, the travellers did not have a satellite phone with them. As a consequence, as soon as the travellers had moved out of the area with mobile phone reception close to the coast, there was no way to reach them. Throughout the night and the coming days, our shift teams continuously tried reaching the mobile phone numbers of the travellers, but were never able to establish a direct contact. From the weather forecast we saw that the weather would get worse during the night and the following day, putting the travellers at even greater risk at sea. At 01.50 CET we sent an email to the competent rescue authorities, the UNHCR and relevant rescue NGOs operating in the area, forwarding all the information we had about the boat. The following day we learned that the search and rescue NGO Pilotes Volontaires had spotted a boat corresponding to the description we had received, 45 nm north of Tripoli. According to Pilotes Volontaires, the engine of the boat was still working. We reached out to the so-called Libyan coastguard, but were informed that there had been no interceptions to Libya since the departure of the travellers. At 15.08 CET we published the following tweet, alerting the public to the emergency sitation:
13 people missing off Libya
Last night, a relative informed us about a boat in distress with ~13 people who fled #Libya on 24 Dec. We were not able to establish contact with the boat. We informed the authorities and we are very worried, as the weather is deteriorating rapidly.
In the late evening on the 26th we sent another email to the competent authorities, forwarding additional phone numbers of travellers that we had obtained, and urging them to do everything possible to localise and rescue the travellers. In addition, we called the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Rome at 22.37 CET, but they were not willing to share any information with us about ongoing search and rescue efforts.
In the morning of the 27th of December, we contacted both the Italian coastguard and the so-called Libyan coastguard, but neither gave us any information. However, the so-called Libyan coastguard told us that due to the weather conditions the previous night they did not have much hope for the travellers.
At the same time, we stayed in close contact with relatives of the travellers who were increasingly worried for the fate of their loved ones as time passed.
At 12.11 CET we tweeted, again: "Where are they? 3 days after departure there is still no trace of the ~13 people who left #Libya in a fiberglass boat. No interception off Libya took place so far, authorities don't inform us about the outcome of any search activities. We hope the people are still alive!"
Immediately after, we sent an email to the European border agency Frontex, inquiring about the travellers. In the evening, they responded that they had sent a surveillance asset the previous day as well as two search and rescue flights in the area North of Tripoli searching for the boat, but that it had been without result.
The following day, we kept searching the media for cases corresponding to this one as well as reaching out to MPs to try and get more information. Unfortunately, our research was without result, and we were eventually forced to close the case without knowing the fate of the travellers. The 13 people remain missing, and we fear that they never made it to shore alive. If we manage to gather more information later, we will update this report.
We condemn the European border regime, forcing people to undertake this deadly journey. We demand Freedom of Movement and Safe Passage for everyone!