13/06: Around 100 people in distress intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard

Verified

  In Distress   Interception

14.06.2021 / 18:07 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 13th June 2021

Case name: 2021_06_13-CM469

Situation: Around 100 people in distress in the Central Med intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Sunday the 13th of June 2021, the Alarm Phone shift team was called directly by a group of around 100 travellers in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. Amongst them were seven women, two of which pregnant, as well as five children. They were travelling on a blue wooden boat and told us that they had no food left and that none of them were wearing life vests. At 11.59 CEST we sent an email to all relevant authorities, alerting them to the distress of the travellers. We never received an answer to our email, but later learned that the travellers had been intercepted and brought back to Libya.
Last update: 18:18 Dec 23, 2021
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

Related Reports

12:49 Oct 12, 2020 / Central Mediterranean Kms
11/10: 43 people, including 125 women and 10 children, caught in a storm, rescued to Malta
17:59 Jun 26, 2021 / Central Mediterranean Sea Kms
25/06: 20 travellers rescued by the Italian coastguard and brought to Lampedusa
11:27 May 03, 2021 / Central Mediterranean Sea Kms
02/05: 95 travellers from Zuwarah intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard.
10:33 May 31, 2019 / Central Mediterranean Sea, Libya Kms
30/05: About 70 people in distress off the coast of Libya, interception presumed
17:35 Jul 24, 2020 / Central Mediterranean Kms
23/07: 110 people from Libya reached merchant vessel COSMO