06/02 20 people cross from Algeria to Sardinia

07.02.2021 / 07:14 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 6th February 2021
Case name: 2021_02_06-CM363
Situation: 20 people cross from Algeria to Sardinia
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean
Summary of the Case:
At around 23:00h CET on 6 February 21 we were contacted by a relative of somebody who had embarked Skikda in Algeria heading for Sardinia. The traveller was part of a group of 20 men. They had left in the early hours of the morning of 4 February. While we were on the phone to the first relative, two other relatives called us to inform us about the
same boat. The boat did not have a satellite phone so we had no way of reaching the travellers.

At 00:20 we called MRSC Cagliari on Sardinia
who told us that they already knew about the case, but who would neither confirm nor deny that they had launched a rescue operation.
We sent an email to MRCC Rome asking for information.

Over the next few hours, we received more and more information about the boat, phone numbers, names, photographs of the people on board and so on. We were not able to get any information out of the authorities.

We were also unable to reach the travellers themselves. At 22:32h we put out the following target="_blank">tweet:
SOS!
~20 people missing! Yesterday, #AlarmPhone was alerted to a wooden boat that left from Skikda, #Algeria toward #Sardinia on Thursday
early morning. Relatives are desperate! Authorities are informed.
@guardiacostiera, we demand the immediate launch of a rescue operation!

We continued trying to reach the relatives and to get information from the Italian authorities. We were unsuccessful in both endeavours. We also tried to reach MRCC Tunis and MRCC Algiers, but without success.
At 14:18h, 7 February, we put out another href="https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1358767087745925126" target="_blank">tweet:
UPDATE:
We still don't have information on the fate of the ~20 travellers from #Algeria! The Italian MRCC Rome is informed but they refuse to provide information. Worried relatives keep asking for them! Don't let them drown!

At 14:30 we were finally able to reach MRCC Algiers, but they had not found the boat. They did tell us that both themselves and the Italian coastguard were searching. Shortly afterwards rumour went round that the boat had been taken to Tunisia, but when we reached MRCC Tunis at 15:40h, they told us that they had not rescued any such boat.

Unable to get any concrete information from anyone at 22:21h we put out the following href="https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1358888496484802562?s=21" target="_blank">tweet:
~20 people missing for almost 5 days!
We still have no news on the blue wooden boat which departed from #Algeria on 04.02., trying to reach #Sardinia. Authorities do not provide any info. We hope they are still alive but we fear the worst! Search and rescue is needed NOW!

Over the next 24 hours we continued looking for information about the boat and trying to contact the travellers. Eventually, at around 22:00h on 9 February, five days after the travellers had left Algeria, the relatives and ourselves were able to confirm from media reports that the group had arrived safely in Sardinia. We put out a final href="https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1359253749970178053?s=20"
target="_blank">tweet:
We have great news! The group of 20 people who went missing after leaving from Algeria on 4 February are safely in Sardinia. A merchant vessel had discovered the distressed. We are so relieved that they
are still alive after about 5 days at sea!
Boza, welcome to Europe.

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