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

14.06.2021 / 18:12 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 13th June 2021

Case name: 2021_06_13-CM470

Situation: Around 100 people, 91 men, five women and three children, in distress 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 received a direct call from a boat in distress on its way from Libya to Europe. Onboard the boat were 100 travellers, 91 men, five women and three children. They were travelling on a wooden boat and informed us that their engine was not working well. They had run out of food and water and were exhausted. At 10.01 CEST we sent an email to the relevant rescue authorities, alerting them to the distress of the travellers and forwarding the GPS position of the incidence. Around an hour later, they told us that water had started entering the boat and people were panicking. We stayed in contact with the boat and were able to forward their updated positions to the Italian and Maltese coastguards. However, they were unwilling to share any information with us about ongoing search and rescue efforts.

In the afternoon we learned that the travellers had been intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard.

Tweets about the case:

https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1404058286064816132
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

18:02 Jun 12, 2021 / Central Mediterranean Sea Kms
11/06: 80 travellers in distress in the Central Med, rescued by NGO vessel
14:08 Jan 23, 2022 / Central Mediterranean Sea Kms
22/01: 16 travellers intercepted to Sfax
16:48 Nov 04, 2021 / Central Mediterranean Sea Kms
03/11: ~400 people in distress in Maltese SAR zone, rescued by SAR vessels
10:45 May 02, 2021 / Central Mediterranean Sea Kms
01/05: 105 travelers left Zuwarah or Sabratah, rescued by Sea-Watch 4.