16/05: 73 people in distress in international waters rescued to Lampedusa

17.05.2021 / 17:27 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – May 16th 2021

Case name: 2021_05_16-CM438

Situation: 73 rescued to Lampedusa after spending a night in distress at sea

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of Case

In the afternoon of May 16th we were contacted by a boat carrying 85 people, including five women and five babies, in distress. They related their motor was ill functioning, water had started to enter their vessel, ten people were ill and five had fallen into the water, but had luckily been hauled back in. We informed authorities at 17.21 CEST. People on the boat called us continuously, relating updated GPS positions which were forwarded to authorities. By 21.00 CEST the people in distress related three more people had fallen into the water, water continously entered their boat and that they were desperate for assistance. During the night we lost contact to the boat. In the morning of May 17th Pilotes Volontaires reported the sighting of an empty boat matching the boat description of this distress call in 35N21 / 12E07; in the afternoon authorities in Rome confirm the rescue of 73 people to Lampedusa. Since the boat description and position match the information related to us by the people in distress, we take it they have been rescued to Italy.

Tweets

May 16th

18.17 CEST

May 17th

08.47 CEST

Last update: 16:50 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