Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 20th of March 2021

Case name: 2021_03_20-CM372
Situation: Approx. 100 travelers (4 children, 4 women) left from Zawiya, Libya. Most probably intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:
On the 20th of March 2021 at 08h15 CET, the Alarm Phone was called by a group of approximately 125 travelers in distress, among them four children and four women. After several attempts to call them back, and although the phone connection was very unstable, they finally managed to pass us a GPS location. They asked for immediate rescue and reported that people had fallen into the water and there were fatalities. They had left from Zawiya, Libya in a rubber boat the day before. At 09h49 CET, our shift team sent an e-mail to the Italian, Maltese and Libyan authorities, alerting them about the distress.
At 09h50 CET our shift team called the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) in Rome. They confirmed the receipt of our e-mail and directly hung up the phone. At 10h08 CET we called the so-called Libyan coastguard. They took the information about the 125 travelers in distress and stated they would forward the info and see what they could do.
We could not reach the travelers anymore, and neither could we get through to the Libyan authorities anymore. Only at 13h17 CET, we talked to the so-called Libyan coastguard again. They informed us about the rescue of a boat with 75 people at the given position. As we could not find out more information about this case, we had to close it without being clear about the differing numbers of people.