14/06: 200 people drifting in international waters, pushed back to Lybia

15.06.2021 / 16:29 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – June 14th 2021

Case name: 2021_06_14-CM471

Situation: Two women, 60 children and 138 men drifting, illegally pushed back by proxy to Lybia

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of Case

In the early morning of June 14th Alarmphone was called by a group of two women, 60 children and 138 men on a blue wooden boat in distress in international waters. At the time of the call people related their boat was drifting, the engine had broken and everyone was fatigued; one person was in a very critical medical condition. We informed authorities at 03.31 CEST. Throughout the remainder of the night and following morning the group contacted us highlighting the direty of their situation. We forwarded the names of merchant vessels in the vicinity of the distress case to authorities in the morning; the so-call Lybian coast guards responded to none of our calls. At 12.42 CEST people on the boat called, informing us they believed a ship had arrived on scene to rescue them, which appeared to be the merchant vessel Vos Triton.

11 hours after our first alert to authorities, no SAR vessel had arrived to attend to the distress case. According to an aerial reconnaissance plane of Sea-Watch, people had started to jump into the water, trying to reach Vos Triton by swimming. At 16.32 CEST the trajectory of the merchant vessel Vos Triton changed to South, suggesting the 200 people were in the process of being pushed-back by proxy to Lybia. Two hours later this appeared to be confirmed by the arrival of a ship of the so-called Lybian coast guard at the side of Vos Triton. At 22.38 CEST the merchant vessel was still heading South towards Lybia. On June 15th media reports related that the 200 travellers had been illegally pushed back by proxy to Lybia.

TweetsJune 14th

09.30 CEST

11.08 CEST

15.30 CEST

16.32 CEST

18.52 CEST and

Tweets by @seawatch_intl

June 14th

17.55 CEST

18.14 CEST

18.48 CEST

19.16 CEST

20.25 CEST

June 15th

13.00 CEST

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