20/02: 5 travellers departed from Bizarte, Tunisia, heading towards Sicily, fate unknown.

21.02.2021 / 22:57 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 20th February 2021

Case name: 2021_02_20-CM374
Situation: 5 travellers departed from Bizarte, Tunisia, heading towards Sicily, fate unknown.
Status of WTM Investigation: Unconfirmed
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:
Around 12:25h CET of Saturday the 20th of February, the Alarm Phone was alerted by a relative of one of the travellers to a white rubber boat in distress carrying 5 people on board. The boat had departed from Bizerte, in Tunisia, three days earlier, on Wednesday the 17th of February. After clarifying the information with the relative and after several failed attempts at establishing direct contact with the travellers, at 16:43h our shift team alerted the Italian coastguard via email, passing on all of the information we had. While we were still not able to reach the travellers, later in the day the relative that first alerted us provided us with further information such as the names of the travellers and the name of the boat, which was finally not a rubber boat but a motor boat with a steering wheel. We immediately passed on this information to Italian authorities. Around 20:10h we called the Italian coastguard confirming the information we sent by email, on their part they did not give us any news. Later in the evening our shift team called the Tunisian coastguard to verify whether they had any information but they didn’t. The travellers were still not reachable during the rest of the night and all of the next morning. During the afternoon of the following day, the 21st of February, we were in contact with several relatives of the travellers who were very concerned as they still had no news from their dear ones. On the 22nd and 23rd of February we continued to search for information on the fate of this boat, the travellers were still unreachable, the Italian coastguard did not give us any information and the relatives still had no news. Unfortunately, despite our efforts we were not able to find out what happened to the travellers on this boat.

Last update: 22:37 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