04/08: 25 people in distress, rescued by Geo Barents

05.08.2021 / 10:10 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 4th of August 2021

Case name: 2021_08_04-CM529

Situation: 25 people, among them 19 men, three women and three children, in distress in a blue wooden boat, rescued by Geo Barents

Status of WTM Investigation: concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On the 4th of August 2021 at 23:15 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 25 people, among them 19 men, three women and three children. They passed a GPS position located near Tunisia and asked for immediate rescue as the wind was very strong. At 23:49 CEST we wrote an email to the Tunisian, Italian and Maltese coast guards, to the NGOs Sea-Watch and Pilotes Volontaires and the NGO rescue vessel Geo Barents. The whole night we received GPS positions by the travellers and forwarded them to the competent actors. The situation didn’t change until 5th August at 07:51 CEST when we tweeted the first time. The whole day we stayed in contact to the travellers and passed every single GPS position. The last contact has been at 16:24 CEST. Later we learned that Geo Barents conducted a rescue operation at 17:30 CEST,

Tweets

5th August, 07:51 CEST https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1423159909630283777

6th August, 22:06 CEST https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1423374874563784711

Last update: 07:16 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