01/08: 28 travellers from Sfax intercepted by Tunisian authorities.

02.08.2021 / 18:59 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 1th August 2021

Case name: 2021_08_01-CM520
Situation: 28 travellers from Sfax intercepted by Tunisian authorities.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:
At 11:54h CEST the morning of Sunday the 1st of August, the Alarm Phone was called by 28 travellers in distress on board of a wooden boat. The boat had departed the previous night from Sfax, Tunisia, and there were 14 women, 2 of which were pregnant, and 3 children on board. The motor was no longer working, and water was entering the boat. After receiving their GPS position, at 12:03h our shift team alerted Tunisian and Italian coastguards. After our last call with the travellers at 13:05h, where the situation had worsened and people were screaming in panic, we lost contact for almost seven hours. Finally, around 21h we were informed that the travellers had been intercepted by the Tunisian coastguard but were all fine.

Twitter Thread:

01.08.2022
13:26 - https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1421794447893934084

19:58 - https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1421893154870018049

22:13 - https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1421927134025617409?s=09

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