10/05: 66 people left Libya and shipwrecked in the responsibilty of the so-called Libyan Coastguard

Verified

  In Distress   Interception   Dead   Missing

11.05.2021 / 13:18 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 10th of May 2021

Case name: 2021_05_10-CM431

Situation: 66 people, among them 10 women, 15 children and 41 men, left Libya and shipwrecked in Libyan search and rescue zone. Only 42 people survived.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On the 10th of May 2021 at 07:35h CEST, the Alarm Phone received a call from a satellite phone and was informed about a plastic boat carrying 66 travellers, among them 10 women, 15 children and 41 men, that left from Lybia. The GPS position they transferred us showed them in the Libyan Search and Rescue zone. The travellers reported deceased people onboard. We alerted the authorities via email but couldn't reach the so-called Libyan Coastguard via phone for long time. When we spoke to an officer in Libya, it became clear they had not read our email. When talking to MRCC Rome, they referred to the so-called Libyan Coastguard as the competent authority. We lost contact to the travellers at 08:12h CEST and learned in the afternoon that this case had become a shipwreck: 42 survivors have been returned to Tripoli, one dead body was onboard and 23 people went missing.

Twitter chronology

08:46h, 10th May
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1391645514593148929?s=19

17:53h, 10th May
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1391783458289164291
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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