30/03: 20 people, including one pregnant woman and 10 children crossed the Central Mediterranean and made it to Lampedusa

31.03.2021 / 09:45 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 30th of March 2021

Case name: 2021_03_30-CM395

Situation: 20 people, including one pregnant woman and 10 children crossed the Central Mediterranean and made it to Lampedusa without any help from authorities

Status of WTM Investigation: closed

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case:

In the afternoon of March 30th, Alarm Phone was called by a Thuraya number. There were 20 people including one pregnant woman and 10 children on a blue boat with 2 engines. It was difficult to understand them on the phone because they were screaming and a baby was crying. At 18:01 CEST we sent an Email to authorities and NGO’s informing them about the boat and gave them details and the GPS-position. We told them that the people were in urgent need of rescue, especially since the pregnant woman was in a very bad health condition.

At 23:39 CEST we found out, that there were two Italian flag boats near the last known position of the boat: The N.VO COSIMO and the big fishing trawler GIUSEPPE SCHIAVONE. But we had no way to contact them unfortunately.

We tried several times to reach the people on board during the night, but without success.

The next morning at 07:44 CEST we called RCC Malta. They were friendly and took all our information, even though we were not sure if they already had it. They told us to call back later. Following the phone call, we also sent another Email to the authorities and NGO’s with the details of the boat and the known GPS-position.

We still could not establish contact to the people on board anymore.

At 10:50 CEST we called RCC Malta again, but they did not have any new information. We sent another Email to authorities and NGO’s, repeating the information we had. After that we tried to call RCC Malta again every hour, but they refused to take our calls after all.

In the evening of March 31st we were informed by a relative of someone on board that they have arrived safely in Lampedusa by themselves. BOZA!

Twitter chronology:

https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1376985023493124102?s=20

https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1377272407015182341?s=21

https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1377329451307040773?s=21

Last update: 20:27 Aug 28, 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