11/10: ~105 people in distress off Zuwara coast, intercepted to Lybia

12.10.2021 / 13:07 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – October 11th 2021

Case name: 2021_10_11-CM589

Situation: ~Five women, ten children, 90 men shipwrecked North of Zuwara, rescued from sea and intercepted by so called Lybian coast guard

WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of Case: In the morning of October 11th Alarm Phone was called by a group of travellers in distress who had departed Zuwara the previous day in a wooden boat carrying five women, ten children and 90 men. At the time of the alert the caller related that water had started to enter the boat, there were no life jackets on board, several people’s health was critical and the travellers were facing very adverse weather conditions. We forwarded the alert to authorities at 06.10 CEST. Throughout the morning we forwarded updated GPS positions to authorities and repeatedly called the so called Lybian coast guard. At 07.48 CEST an operator responded they would send a vessel to search for the 105 people in distress. More than six hours after our first alert, at 14.31 CEST the operator of the so called Lybian coast guard informed us their vessel had found the people in distress, close to Zuwara coast. At 22.25 CEST the operator related that 15 dead bodies had been recovered from sea, and 87 people rescued from sea and intercepted to Tripoli Naval Base.

Tweets

October 11th

08.54 CEST

13.19 CEST

17.27 CEST

October 12th

09.50 CEST

09.50 CEST

UNHCR Tweets

October 11th

22.05 CEST

Last update: 18:24 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