Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 18th May 2021
Case name: 2021_05_18-CM442
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 25 people in distress who were eventually intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case:
On Tuesday the 18th of May the Alarm Phone was alerted by a relative to a wooden boat with 25 people, including two children. We managed to reach the travellers who told us that they were in urgent distress as they had very little fuel left and water was entering the boat. When we called the boat the connection was very bad and they told us they had little battery left on their satellite phone, but we managed to get the GPS position of the travellers. We informed all relevant authorities via email, and in addition called the so-called Libyan coastguard who replied to our request for urgent rescue: "if god wants, they will be rescued".
At 18.22 CEST we tweeted:

SOS! 25 people, including 2 children, in urgent distress off Libya.
We alerted all authorities, including the so-called Libyan coastguard already at 11.15 CEST, but so far there is no rescue in sight. Water is entering the boat and help is urgently needed. #DontLetThemDrown!
At 22.58 CEST we called the so-called Libyan coastguard again who told us that they had rescued one boat and were heading towards another. Next morning they confirmed that they had intercepted the boat we had alerted them to. At 14.32 CEST we tweeted:
The so-called Libyan Coastguard informed us about the interception of the ~25 people, many hours after we alerted authorities. The people were forced back to Libya which is illegal! They told us on the phone that they were extremely afraid of returning to violence & exploitation.