02/08: 93 people in distress, rescued by the Tunisian coast guard from an oil platform and brought to Tunisia

03.08.2021 / 09:56 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 2nd of August 2021

Case name: 2021_08_02-CM525
Situation: 93 people in distress in a blue wooden boat, rescued by the Tunisian coast guard from an oil platform and brought to Tunisia.

Status of WTM Investigation: concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On the 2nd of August 2021 at 03:05 CEST the Alarm Phone received a call from a satellite phone. The person on the phone reported to be on a blue wooden boat with 92 people, five of them in critical situation. They passed a GPS position and asked for instant rescue as water was entering the boat. At 03:21 CEST we emailed to the Italian and Maltese coast guard, to the NGOs Sea-Watch and Pilotes Volontaires and the NGO rescue vessel Ocean Viking.

At 10 CEST we spoke again to the travellers who were still on sea and very exhausted. The whole night a big ship was close to them but didn’t engage in a rescue. We received another GPS position, located near an oil platform, and passed it to the actors mentioned before as well as the Tunisian coast guard. We phoned with the Tunisian coast guard at 17:18 CEST and they reported to have been at the position we provided them. On the nearby platform they found 93 persons and embarked them on their vessel. Later the authority confirmed to have brought them to Tunisia.

Last update: 07:12 Feb 28, 2022

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