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