29/04: 75 travelers in distress, left from Tripoli. No rescue confirmed.

30.04.2021 / 09:55 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 29th April 2021

Case name: 2021_04_29-CM414
Situation: 75 travelers (4 children, 0 women, 71 men) in distress between Libya and Italy. Contact broke off and no rescue could be confirmed.
Status of WTM Investigation: Unconfirmed
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:
On the 29th of April 2021, the Alarm Phone was called by a group of 75 travelers in distress, among them 4 children, no women and 71 men. They had started from Tripoli, Libya, the day before.
They reported that they had run out of food and water, water was entering their boat, and the engine was not working anymore. Our shift team informed the Italian, Maltese and Libyan authorities about the distress case. We received some updated GPS locations from the travelers and passed them on the the authorities, but then our shift team lost contact to the boat and no coastguard confirmed their rescue.
On the evening of the 1st of May, we closed the case and the fate of the 75 travelers remained unclear.

Last update: 11:26 Dec 05, 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