18/02: Boat from Zawya shipwrecked during rescue operation by Italian coastguard. 45 people rescued, 7 people missing.

19.02.2021 / 21:09 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 18th February 2021

Case name: 20210218-CM366
Situation: Boat from Zawya shipwrecked during rescue operation by Italian coastguard. 45 people rescued, 7 people missing.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:
Around 22:10h CET the Alarm Phone was alerted by a relative of a travellers to a boat in urgent distress off the coast of Zawya. The wooden boat was carrying 70 travellers and had departed one hour earlier, water was entering the boat. After trying unsuccessfully to reach the so-called Libyan coastguard by phone on different numbers at 22:28h our shift team emailed the authorities passing on all the information we had. At 22:33h we published the first of a series of tweets informing about the situation. During the whole evening we could not establish contact with the travellers. Shortly after midnight our shift team was called again by the relative that first alerted us, he told us that he had spoken again to the travellers who told him that they were in severe distress 27NM off the coast of Zawya. Water had damaged their satellite phone which was not working properly anymore. At 00:30h we sent an email to authorities and to the NGO boat AIta Mari, with the updates of this situation and asking for immediate rescue. Our shift team was still unable to reach the travellers. At 00:57h we received a response from Aita Mari wich informed of their availability to assist the boat in distress and was asking to instructions to authorities. We then tried to reach the so-called Libyan coastguard on many different numbers but no one answered our calls. During the rest of the night we were never able to reach the travellers and even the relative that had alerted us could no longer reach them. Finally, the following morning at 09:35h we managed to reach the so-called Libyan coastguard who told us that a rescue was ongoing north of Zawya. At 12:30h the so-called Libyan coastguard confirmed that they had rescued two boats with 125 people in total. One of them, a blue/black wooden boat could correspond to our case. However, at 17:53h we received a call from 75 travellers, including 7 minors, in distress that had departed from Zawya. The boat was also blue and wooden, and water was entering . At 18:20h we alerted authorities and the NGO boat Aita Mari via email. At 18:44h, 19:05h, 19:34h and 20:20h we received updated GPS positions which we immediately forwarded. At 00:50h of the 20th of February we were copied in an email sent by Aita Mari informing that they had found the boat with 80 to 90 people on board and no life vests. At 01:21h we received another email by Aita Mari informing that they had been instructed by an Italian military vessel to leave the area and that the Italian military vessel would monitor and assist the boat in distress. The following morning the Italian Coast Guard informed that during the rescue operation the boat capsized, 47 people were rescued and several were missing. In the afternoon the relative that first alerted us confirmed that the boat had shipwrecked. We were later able to confirm that 45 people were rescued and 7 were still missing.

Tweets

18/02
22:33 https://mobile.twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1362515565533888513

20/02
10:40 https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1363060846201622529
11:57 https://mobile.twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1363442763082178561

Last update: 22:31 Jun 01, 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