05/08: 140 people started from Heraklion, Crete, to reach Italy and were rescued by Italian coast guard to Sicily

06.08.2021 / 10:12 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 5th of August 2021

Case name: 2021_08_05-CM530
Situation: 140 people started from Greece (Heraklion on Crete) to Italy, were rescued by the Italian coast guard to Sicily

Status of WTM Investigation: concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On the 5th of August 2021 at 14:08 CEST the Alarm Phone received a distress call from a satellite phone. The person on the phone reported to be on a blue iron boat with 140 people. They passed a GPS location which located them 90nm east from Sicily in the Italian search and rescue zone. At 14:38 CEST we informed the Italian coast guard as well as the NGOs Sea-Watch and Pilotes Volontaires and the NGO vessel Geo Barents via email. Our last contact to the travellers was at 15 CEST. In the following hours we didn’t get more information from the authorities. The day ended without a result. In the next day, 6th of August we learned that the travellers have been rescued the day before by the Italian coast guard to Sicily.

Twitter chronology

5th August, 15:20 CEST https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1423272542031257601?s=09

6th August, 18:52 CEST https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1423688352059043849

Last update: 10:36 Mar 03, 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