16/08: Group of travellers intercepted by so-called Libyan coastguard and put in detention centre

17.08.2021 / 21:11 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 16th August 2021

Case name: 2021_08_16-CM541

Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to a boat in distress in the Central Med. The travellers were brought to Tripolis and placed in detention.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Monday the 16th of August we received a direct call from a group of between 25 and 34 travellers who were in distress north of Al Khums. The travellers had left Al Khums the day before at around 22.00 CEST on a white rubber boat. They told us that the situation was getting dangerous as water was entering the boat and it was getting dark around them. At 21.08 CEST we forwarded all information we had, including the GPS position of the travellers, to all relevant rescue authorities. At 21.40 CEST we called the so-called Libyan coastguard, who told us that they had intercepted a boat matching the description of the boat we were alerted to. They told us that the travellers had been brought to Tripolis where they were received by IOM and would be brought to a detention facility.

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