30/07: 120 travellers intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard.

31.07.2021 / 18:26 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 30th July 2021

Case name: 2021_07_30-CM516
Situation: 120 travellers intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:
In the early morning of Friday the 30th of July the Alarm Phone was alerted by a worried relative to a boat in distress. After several hours, around 06:30h CEST we managed to reache the travellers who told us they were 120 travellers on board. They also gave us a GPS position which we tried to confirm by calling back several times, however we were no longer able to reach the travellers. Nonetheless, at 08:37h we alerted the Italian and Maltese authorities, as well as NGO search and rescue boat and reconnaissance aircrafts , passing on the coordinates we received. At 09:30 the NGO boat Ocean Viking (OV) informed us and authorities that they were heading towards the distress case. Soon after the travellers called us back an told us that there were 42 women, one of which was pregnant, and 14 children amongst them. Two people had bullet wounds from escaping a Libyan detention center. They also told us that they had left between Sabratha and Zuwarah the previous evening. While they gave us an updated GPS position this did not match the previous one nor the time and place of departure. We immediately shared all of this information and considerations with authorities and NGOs. At 12:37h we spoke again to the travellers who told us they could see a boat, most probably a merchant vessel. Our last contact with the boat was at 12:50h where they expressed their fear of being brought back to Libya, after which we were no longer able to reach them despite our constant efforts. At 16:58h the NGO reconnaissance aircraft Seabird informed us that they had spotted an empty, deflated rubber boat in the Libyan Search and Rescue Zone in International waters, which could match our case. Later in the evening the so-called Libyan coastguard confirmed an interception.

Twitter Thread:

30.07

19:37- https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1421162899842682880

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