27/08: 100 travellers rescued to Lampedusa, Italy.

28.08.2021 / 22:46 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 27th August 2021

Case name: 2021_08_27-CM553

Situation: 100 travellers rescued to Lampedusa, Italy.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: Around 03:00h CEST in the very early morning of Friday the 27th of August the Alarm Phone was alerted by a worried relative to a boat in distress with approximately 100 travellers on board. At 03:24h our shift team managed to establish direct contact with the boat and obtained their GPS position, which showed they were near Lampedusa. We were also told that water was entering the boat. At 03:30h we alerted the Italian coastguard about the boat in distress. After a last call at 04:23h in which the travellers were in severe distress and were worried about a possible death on board, we lost contact with them. The Italian coastguard did not give us any information regarding actions taken. At 07:06h we received the information about a disembarkation in Lampedusa of 100 travellers, including 24 children, whom had departed from Zawiya, Libya. While we could not obtain final confirmation, we believe that this was “our” case.

Last update: 14:05 Mar 19, 2022

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