01/05: 125 travelers left Al Khoms, most probably intercepted by so-called Libyan coastguard.

Verified

  In Distress   Interception   Missing

02.05.2021 / 10:41 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 1st May 2021

Case name: 2021_05_01-CM421
Situation: approx. 125 travelers (4 women, 120 men) left Al Khoms, Libya and were most probably brought back to Libya by so-called Libyan costguard.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:
On the 1st of May 2021 in the early morning hours, the Alarm Phone was alerted to a boat carrying around 125 travelers (among them four women and around 120 men). They had departed from Al Khoms, Libya in the night of the 30th of April on a rubber boat. Communication with them was very difficult, due to the bad network. Our shift team informed the Italian, Maltese and Libyan authorities about the distress case. The contact to the boat could not be re-established during the whole day and we did not receive clear information from the so-called Libyan coastguard. The next day, we closed the case, assuming that the travelers were intercepted by the Libyan authorities.

Twitter Chronology:
01.05. 09:58h CEST https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1388402317624500227?s=21
01.05. 19:21h CEST: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1388544142830100483
Last update: 11:31 Dec 05, 2021
Credibility: UP DOWN 0
Layers »
  • 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

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