10/06: 43 people started from Libya and were intercepted by the so-called Libyan coast guard

11.06.2021 / 10:13 / Central Mediterranean Sea

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

Case name: 2021_06_10-CM457

Situation: 43 people, started at 9th June on 01:00 CEST from Libya and were likely intercepted by the so-called Libyan coast guard on 10th June

Status of WTM Investigation: concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On the 10th of June 2021 at 09:58 CEST the Alarm Phone received a call from a satellite phone. Accordingly to the travellers they were in urgent distress: The boat were not able to move and water were entering. Following other information were transferred: GPS position, 43 people onboard, all Sudanese people, they have left the day before at 01:00 CEST from an unknown Libyan city in a white plastic boat. The travellers wished to alert the authorities. We sent an email at 10:52 CEST to Italian and Maltese coast guard, to so-called Libyan coast guard and the NGOs Sea-Watch and Pilote Volontaires and the NGO rescue vessel Geo Barents. The situation worse and we tweeted at 11:53 CEST. At 13:26 CEST an updated GPS position is transferred to the so-called Libyan coast guard first by phone, later via email where all others actors have been included.

At 14:59 CEST we had the last contact to the travellers and assume they have been intercepted by the so-called Libyan coast guard.

Tweet chronology:

11:53 CEST: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1402926004247613448

15:08 CEST: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1402975603675090945

21:40 CEST: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1403075580933853184

Last update: 10:29 Dec 23, 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