10/05: Around 75 people, including two women and a child, probably rescued to Malta

11.05.2021 / 16:42 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – May 10th 2021

Case name: 2021_05_10-CM432

Situation: Around 75 people drifting in bad weather, probably rescued to Malta

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of Case

In the evening of May 10th Alarmphone was contacted by around 75 people in distress in a rubber boat, drifting to the South of Malta, with weather conditions forceasted to worsen. We alerted authorities and pointed out the presence of three merchant Vessels in the vicinity of the distress, one of which, AmandaF, was eventually ordered to ‘monitor’ at the location, but not to rescue the people in distress by authorities. No rescue took place throughout the night. Maltese authorities remained characteristically evasive throughout this distress case. In the early morning hours we lost contact to the people in distress. At 09.09 CEST May 11th we became aware of a tweet by the Italian press, stating a rescue was being carried out by Maltese authorities. Around midday, this information was reiterated by an article stating the rescue of 70 people by Maltese authorities during the night.

Tweets

May 10th

19.57 CEST href= “https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1391814279872008199?s=21” target=>tweet

May 11th

09.08 CEST href= "https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1392013715151728642" target=tweet

Last update: 16:44 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