19/02: 83 travellers departed from Zawya, arrived to Lampedusa.

20.02.2021 / 22:10 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 19th February 2021

Case name: 2021_02_19-CM370
Situation: 83 travellers departed from Zawya, arrived to Lampedusa
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:
In the afternoon of Friday the 19th of February, the Alarm Phone was called by a boat in distress carrying approximately 83 travellers. The boat had departed from Zawya the previous night. After having received their GPS coordinates, which showed that they were in Maltese Search and Rescue area, at 15:27h CET, our shift team alerted the authorities via email. At 15:36h, we published the first of a series of tweets informing about the case. During the rest of the afternoon and evening, we continued to update the authorities with updated positions. At 18:08h and at 20:52h, the travellers told us that their engine was no longer working, that they had no more food or water and that they were really exhausted. Unfortunately, in the morning of the following day, the 20th of February, we lost contact with the travellers and we were never able to re-establish it. Later, relatives of the travelers informed us that they had arrived to Lampedusa.

Twitter Chronology

19/02

15:36: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1362773097116545027

20/02

22:00 https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1363232110518161409

21/02

09:42 https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1363408796178087936

Last update: 22:35 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