31/07: Approximately 400 travellers rescued by SW and OV.

01.08.2021 / 18:53 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 31th July 2021

Case name: 2021_07_31-CM519
Situation: Approximately 400 travellers rescued by SW and OV.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:
In the late afternoon of Saturday the 31st of July the Alarm Phone was alerted by a relative of a traveller to a boat in distress carrying almost 400 people. The boat was a two decks wooden boat and had departed from Zuwarah the previous night. The relative also gave us the last GPS position he had received. After trying several times to reach the travellers directly we spoke to them at 18:26h CEST, they told us that the boat is severely overcrowded and 12 people already lost their lives, including one pregnant woman. 4 children were also on board. The engine was no longer working. At 18:37h our shift team alerted by email Italian, Maltese and Libyan authorities as well as NGO search and rescue vessels. At 18:57h the NGO boat Sea Watch (SW) replied that they were heading towards the distress case. The NGO boat Ocean Viking (OV) was also heading towards the distress case. As we talked again to the travellers they informed us that people were continuing to die onboard, at 19:54h they reported that 40 people has lost their lives. We also saw that the merchant vessel Mardive 206 was close to the distress case but not engaging. At 21:32h the travellers told us that the Tunisian coastguard had reached them but only took photographs and left. When we called the Tunisian coastguard some minutes later, they just told us that they had a problem with the vessel so could not get there in time. Fortunately, at 23:06h SW informed that they had arrived on scene. A few hours later another NGO, boat RESQSHIP, as well as OV, also arrived on scene. The following morning, after a rescue operation of more than 5 hours, the almost 400 travellers were confirmed rescued and on board of SW and OV.

Twitter Thread:

31.07.2021
21:18 - https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1421785640040026112

22:18 - https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1421565635033710597

01.08.2021
10:50 - https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1421785640040026112

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