Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 18th May 2021
Case name: 2021_05_18-CM441
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 88 people in distress, pulled back by the so-called Libyan coastguard after reaching Maltese waters.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean
Summary of the case:
On Tuesday the 18th of May 2021 at around 06.00 CEST, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a boat in urgent distress carrying 88 people. They were travelling on a blue wooden boat, and the relative told us that the boat was in risk of capsizing due to high waves and strong wind. In addition, we learned that they had no life vests. The relative sent us the GPS position of the travellers and their satellite phone number. However, when we called the boat the connection was so poor that we did not manage to obtain any further information. At 06.34 CEST we sent an email to all relevant authorities alerting them to the distress of the travellers. 10 minutes later we manage to establish a connection to the travellers who told us: “everything broken, every one, also kids, sit in water". They also told us that they were still moving. After this call, the connection was again too poor to communicate with the boat. During the morning we tried many times to call the Maltese coastguard without reaching them. At 07.40 CEST we tweeted: ~88 lives at risk in #Malta SAR!
Alarmphone was alerted by people in distress. The wooden boat is exposed to strong wind and waves, water is entering. The people are in danger of capsizing at any moment.
Immediate rescue is needed!
At 07.58 CEST we sent another email to all authorities, informing them about a nearby merchant vessel and urging them to coordinate rescue with this vessel. At 08.38 CEST we managed to reach the Maltese coastguard who informed us that they were “monitoring the case” without confirming that they were making any efforts to rescue the travellers. Throughout the morning we kept updating all authorities with new positions of the boat and urging them to act in order to save the lives of the travellers.
In addition to the national rescue authorities, we reached out to the company of the merchant vessel in the vicinity, urging them to rescue the travellers in distress close to their ship.
After being unable to get a confirmation of any rescue efforts and after losing contact to the boat, at 18.00 we tweeted: UPDATE
We lost contact to the ~88 people more than 7h ago. When we spoke, the situation was bad. We are very worried as authorities refuse to give us information. They are close to the other 95 people in distress in Malta SAR. @ArmedForcesMT, do your duty and coordinate rescue!
In the meantime, we were contacted by other relatives of the travellers who also told us that they had tried reaching the Maltese coastguard, but that they did not pick up the phone.
Only the next morning at 08.51 CEST did one of the relatives tell us that they had spoken to someone who had been on the boat and who told them that they had been pulled back from Maltese waters by the so-called Libyan coastguard. At 14.20 CEST we tweeted:
PUSHBACK FROM MALTA SAR!
A relative told us that the boat with ~88 people was intercepted by the so-called Libyan Coastguard. The last position showed the boat in #Malta SAR. The systematic pushbacks to #Libya have to stop immediately!
People flee to find a safe place!