24/07: Around 100 travellers in distress in the Central Med intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard

25.07.2021 / 16:35 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 24th July 2021

Case name: 2021_07_24-CM512

Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to around 100 travellers in distress in the Central Med, interception by so-called Libyan coastguard spotted by Seabird.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Saturday the 24th of July 2021 in the morning, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to a group of around 100 travellers, including 10 women, in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. The travellers had left from Zuwara around 24 hours earlier on a wooden boat with two decks. The engine had broken and the travellers were therefore left adrift. At the same time, the boat was taking in water and the travellers said that it was sinking. The travellers told us that they did not wear life jackets and that many of them were sick. At 06.48 CEST we sent an email to all relevant authorities, alerting them to the distress of the travellers and forwarding their GPS position. We then lost contact to the boat.
We never received any information from the authorities about search and rescue operations, but the NGO aircraft Seabird spotted an interception of around 100 people by the so-called Libyan coastguard, which we believed to be this boat. At 12.47 CEST we tweeted: Aiplane #Seabird of @seawatch_intl witnessed the interception of ~100 people in distress by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard.
As usual, people are being forced back to Libya - the place they are trying to flee.
This ongoing crime must end!

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