27/06: 130 people in distress in the Central Med, rescue to Lampedusa

28.06.2021 / 18:35 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 27th June 2021
Case name: 2021_06_27-CM485
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to a group of around 130 people in urgent distress in the Central Med. Eventually, they were rescued and brought to Lampedusa.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case:
On Saturday the 26th of June 2021, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to a group of around 130 travellers in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. They were travelling on a blue wooden boat and had left from Zuwara, Libya, three days earlier. At 07.59 CEST we sent an email to all relevant authorities, forwarding all the information we had, including the GPS position of the travellers.
At 08.02 CEST we alerted the public to the situation of the travellers in the following tweet: ~100 people in distress in Malta SAR! They have been at sea for 3 days and need immediate rescue! @ArmedForcesMT & @guardiacostiera don’t delay rescues and bring them to safety as soon as possible!
In another call to the travellers they told us that their engine had broken, that water was entering the boat and that five of them were sick. We immediately forwarded this to the rescue authorities, along with the updated position of the travellers.
At 12:38 CEST we tweeted: The ~100 people are still calling, exhausted & desperate. A lot of water in entering the boat & the engine is broken. Urgent rescue is needed but there is no rescue in sight. #Moonbird spotted them. @ArmedForcesMT & @guardiacostiera #DontLetThemDrown!
We never got any answer from authorities about any search and rescue efforts, but in the evening we learned that the group on the boat had been rescued and brought to Lampedusa.
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

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