23/08: 25 people left Zuwara, Libya, and reached Lampedusa

24.08.2021 / 22:17 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – August 23rd 2021

Case name: 2021_08_23-CM549

Situation: 25 people of Libyan nationality departed in Zuwarah and reached Italy

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of Case In the early evening of August 23rd Alarm Phone was called by a group of 25 people of Libyan nationality in distress who had departed Zuwara in a blue wooden boat. The group passed a GPS position to us and urgently requested assistance. We found the position to be in Maltese search and rescue zone and forwarded the alert to authorities of Malta and Italy as well as to the NGOs Sea-Watch and Pilotes Volontaires at 18.59 CEST. We couldn’t speak with RCC Malta via phone and Italy denied responsibility. At 19:21 CEST we spoke to the travellers last. As we couldn’t gather any news we called the so-called Libyan coast guards the next day, August 24th, at 12:33 CEST but due to language barriers we had to end the call quickly. Luckily, in the afternoon we learnt that the people arrived in Lampedusa.

Tweets

23.08.21, 19:27 https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1429857719490650113?s=19

24.08.21, 15:56 https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1430167178108604416

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