Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 23rd of January 2021

Case name: 20210123-CM352

Situation: boat in urgent distress was rescued by Libyan Coastguard, several people missing or died

Status of WTM Investigation: concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:

A worried relative called the Alarm Phone on January 23 at 21.12h CET informing us about a boat in distress that departed from Zawiya, Libya, the night before. According to his information there were 68 people on board, among them 15 women and 5 children. At 21.28h CET we got called by the people on board themselves, giving us their position and stating their distress. We heard people shouting that a lot of water was coming into the boat, that the engine was broken and several people were sick. We called MRCC Rome to inform them and sent an email to all authorities including Libyan Coast Guard (LCG). We also phoned the LCG at 22.11h CET and they stated to launch a rescue operation, but this did not happen throughout the night and we were not able to reach the phone of the boat any more. The next morning we got in contact with Colonel Massoud from the Libyan Coast Guard who took over responsibility and promised rescue would be sent . At 11h CET we finally got confirmation about the rescue operation. The LCG spoke about 82 rescued person, among them 13 women and 1 child. One person died during the rescue and three persons were missing. The next day January 25 we learned from relatives that there were actually not 4 but 17 people who died at sea in this shipwreck.