01/05: 51 travelers in distress in Maltese SAR zone, rescued by Sea-Watch 4.

02.05.2021 / 11:23 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 1st May 2021

Case name: 2021_05_01-CM424
Situation: 51 travelers (3 women (one of them pregnant) 48 men) left from Zuwarah, Libya. In distress in Maltese SAR zone. Rescue by Sea-Watch 4.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:
On the 1st of May 2021 around 16:00h CEST, The Alarm Phone was contacted by a relative of someone on a boat in distress. There were 51 travelers, among them three women (one of them pregnant) and 48 men. They had left from Zuwarah, Libya on a double-decker wooden boat. They were in the Maltese Search and Rescue zone. Our shift team alerted the Maltese authorities. Finally, the travelers were rescued by the crew of the Sea-Watch 4, while the rescue ship was already carrying more than 400 rescued people without the assistance of the competent European authorities.

Tweet from Sea-Watch International referring to this case:
01.05.2021 22:51h CEST https://twitter.com/seawatch_intl/status/1388597086103482371

Last update: 11:33 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