04/10: 31 people in distress in international waters, intercepted to Lybia

05.10.2021 / 13:01 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – October 4h 2021

Case name: 2021_10_04-CM586

Situation: Twelve children, five women, 14 men in distress close to Bouri oil platform, intercepted by so called Lybian coast guard

WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of Case: In the evening of October 4th Alarm Phone was called by a relative who alerted us to a group of twelve children, five women and 14 men in distress, who had departed Zuwara in a white fiber glass boat. According to the caller, water had entered the boat and the motor had stopped working in deteriorating weather conditions. We were unable to establish working communication to the people in distress and contacted the so called Lybian coast guard repeatedly from 22.55 CEST onwards but our calls remained unanswered. We sent an e-mail to all authorities in the area at 23.51 CET and updated authorities at 00.38 CEST and again at 03.14 CEST October 5th after having received GPS positions from the people in distress. We informed authorities about a merchant vessel, Amisan of Augusta Offshore company, in the vicinity at 07.46 CEST the same morning. At 09.40 CEST the so called Lybian coast guard informed us the group of 31 people had been intercepted to Lybia.

Tweets

October 5th

00.41 CEST

15.26 CEST

Last update: 18:22 Apr 02, 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