17/08: 12 travellers arrived to Lampedura

18.08.2021 / 21:19 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 17th August 2021

Case name: 2021_08_17-CM542

Situation: 12 travellers in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea arrived to Lampedusa.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Tuesday the 17th of August 2021, the Alarm Phone received a direct call from a fiber glass boat carrying 12 travellers, including two or three children. They told us that they had little fuel left and forwarded us their GPS position, showing that they were in Maltese waters. At 15.20 CEST we sent an email to all relevant authorities alerting them to the distress of the travellers. In addition, we gave the number of the Italian coastguard to the travellers for them to make a direct call. Despite calling both the Italian and Maltese coastguard several times, neither would confirm any ongoing search and rescue. At 16.44 CEST we sent out the following tweet about the case: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1427642260129210382

SOS in #Malta SARWe received a call from a boat with 12 people in distress at sea, including 2 or 3 children. They cannot continue and the weather is only getting worse. Authorities are informed but have not confirmed launching any rescue operation. Don‘t leave them to die!

At 16:47 CEST we spoke to the boat again and received their position. They told us that they had now run out of fuel and that the battery of their satellite phone was also about to die. After this point we were no longer able to reach the travellers. We immediately forwarded this information to all relevant authorities. Although neither Italian nor Maltese coastguard were ever willing to confirm anything, we learned the following day that 12 people matching the description of this boat had arrived in Lampedusa, and concluded that most probably the travellers had arrived safely. At 12.45 CEST we published the following tweet:

Last night, 12 people arrived on #Lampedusa after leaving from Sabratha, #Libya. Although all authorities refuse to provide any information that would allow us to have complete certainty, we have reason to believe these are the people we were looking for. Welcome to #Europe!

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