Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 20th February 2021

Case name: 2021_02_20-CM373
Situation: 77 travellers who departed from Zawiya, Libya, were rescued to Italy.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:
In the evening of Saturday the 20th of February the Alarm Phone was alerted by a relative of one of the travellers to a boat in distress that had departed the previous evening from Zawiya, Libya. The boat was carrying 77 people, including 14 women and 5 children. Our shift team managed to reach the travellers directly however connection was very bad, they told us that their engine had problems and that they had no life vests, food or water. However, due to bad connection we could not understand their GPS position. After trying several times unsuccessfully to obtain their position, at 22:45h CET we informed Italian and Maltese authorities, as well as NGO search aircrafts and UNHCR, passing on all the information we had, including GPS position, already in International waters, obtained by the relative. At 22:45h we also published a first tweet informing about the situation. At 00:58h in the night we spoke again to the travellers who urgently asked for help, they told us that water was entering the boat, the weather was getting worst, and they were adrift. We also received an updated position which we immediately passed on to authorities. In the hours that followed the situation quickly deteriorated as travellers called us several times worried as more water was entering the boat. At 03:34 the travellers also told our shift team that two people had fallen into the water, and added the information that two of the women on board were pregnant. We passed on this information, together with an updated GPS position to relevant authorities. Again at 05:34h in the morning we received and passed on an updated position. After having lost contact with the travellers for several hours, at 09:33h we were copied in an email from the NGO search aircraft Moonbird to authorities, informing that they had spotted the boat in distress, providing an updated position and urging authorities for immediate assistance. At 11:49h we managed to speak again to the travellers who were exhausted and scared, they also send us an updated position which we sent to authorities. As the boat was in the Maltese Search and Rescue area we tried to call several times the Maltese coastguard but our calls remained unanswered. At 14:11h our shift team spoke to the Italian coastguard who took all the information we had but only asked us to call Malta. When a few minutes later we spoke to the travellers again, they informed us that one of the women had given birth just a few days earlier during the trip and that her and that the new-born’s health was deteriorating due to dehydration. After receiving an updated position which was in the Italian Search and Rescue area we called and emailed the Italian coastguard who told us that they would not provide us any information on possible search and rescue operations. Finally, in the evening we received the confirmation from the relatives of the travellers that the travellers had been rescued and brought to Italy. The mother and her baby were fortunately well.

Twitter Chronology:

20.02
22:45 https://mobile.twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1363244014615605253

21.02
09:10 https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1363399880312512513?s=09
14:59 https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1363488637434880002
16:46 https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1363515368875192324
20:54 https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1363577732064550918