03/08: 120 people started in Al Khoms, Libya, and were brought back to Tripoli

04.08.2021 / 10:05 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 3rd of August 2021

Case name: 2021_08_03-CM527

Situation: 120 people, among them 104 men, 10 women and six children, started from Al Khoms in a green boat on 31st July and were intercepted by the so-called Libyan coast guard

Status of WTM Investigation: concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On the 3rd of August 2021 at 07:30 CEST the Alarm Phone received a call from a satellite phone. The connection broke soon and it took several calls to gather the following information: GPS position, number of people onboard the green rubber boat: 120, they departed already on 31st of July that’s why the phone was running out of battery. At 09:57 CEST we informed the authorities in Italy, Malta and Libya as well as UNHCR, the NGOs Pilotes Volontaires and Sea Watch and a merchant vessel nearby the GPS position (MSC NINA F). In the next hours we learned from the travellers that one woman gave birth and all suffered from thirst. The merchant vessel NINA F under portuguese flag was very cooperative and changed course towards the boat. When they arrived in around 300m distance they saw a speedboat with many people onboard heading towards Libya. Later the so-called Libyan coast guard confirmed via email that they brought the people back to Tripoli, Libya.

Last update: 07:14 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