02/01: 90 travellers rescued by Open Arms

03.01.2021 / 17:35 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 2nd January 2021
Case name: 2021_01_02-CM339
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 90 travellers in Maltese waters; rescued by Open Arms.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of case: On Saturday the 2nd of January 2021 at 03.04 CET, the Alarm Phone shift team was called directly by a boat in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. The rubber boat was carrying 90 people; 80 men, five women and five children, and had left from Libya on the 31st of December 2020 at around midnight. The travellers told us that some of them were sick and that they had no food and were very cold. They also gave us their GPS position, showing that they were already within the Maltese search and rescue zone. We were also told that they had two engines of which one was broken down and the other one was not working very well. At 04.01 we sent an email to all relevant rescue authorities, forwarding all the information we had. Afterwards we attempted to call the Maltese coastguard but were not able to reach them. During the morning and the following day we managed to maintain contact to the travellers and were able to receive their updated position regularly, which we continued to forward to the rescue authorities along with information about the situation on the boat. At 06.19 the travellers told us that they had almost no petrol left. At 10.15 we again tried to call the Maltese coastguard in addition to our emails, but we still got no answer. At 12.30 we learned from twitter that the travellers had been rescued by Open Arms.

Tweets about the case:

10:50 :
90 people in distress in #Malta SAR!

Tonight we have been alerted by 90 people who fled from #Libya towards #Europe. We informed authorities about the emergency in the Maltese SAR, but RCC Malta either doesn't pick up or hangs up our calls immediately.

12:38
We are so glad that the boat with 97 people that reached out to #AlarmPhone at night is being rescued by @openarms_fund! @Armed_Forces_MT
continued to refuse responding to the distress calls. Now #OpenArms need a port of safety in #Europe.

Last update: 17:47 Apr 26, 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