21/01: ~70 people coming from Garabouli, rescued by scLCG to Libya

22.01.2021 / 17:49 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 21st of January 2021

Case name: 20212101-CM344

Situation: ~70 people were rescued by so-called Libyan coast guard and brought back to Libya

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:

On 21st of January 2021 at 06.01 CET the Alarm Phone received a distress call by a satellite phone. The around 70 persons started only hours before and their engine broke down. The weather was bad and they needed to be rescued. It was not possible to get a proper GPS position from them. At 06.38 someone called and introduced himself as relative of a person on board a boat that left from Garabouli. The satellite phone number matched to the boat in distress. The person gave a GPS position to us. The shift team tried to reconnect to the travellers to confirm the GPS position but they weren’t reachable. At 08.44 Libyan authorities and NGOs were alerted by email. Last contact to the travellers was at 10.30 were it was possible to obtain an updated GPS position, which transferred to the relevant actors. Unfortunately, at 13.51, Alarm Phone received an email by Moonbird, the aerial asset of Sea-Watch, that they spotted the boat during their monitoring flight and observed the interception by the so-called Libyan coast guard.

Last update: 12:57 Apr 29, 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