02/11: ~75 people in distress in Maltese SAR zone, rescued by SAR vessels

03.11.2021 / 16:46 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – November 2nd 2021

Case name: 2021_11_02-CM613

Situation: ~75 people in distress in Maltese SAR, rescued by SAR vessels of Sea Eya and Mission Lifeline

WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of Case: In the evening of November 2nd Alarm Phone was called by a group of 75 people in distress in international waters who had departed Lybia in a unclear type of boat. The caller related that water was entering the boat and people no board were very wet and panicking while weather conditions were deteriorating. We received a GPS position and forwarded the distress call to authorities at 20.04 CET. Throughout the night we forwarded updated GPS positions of the people in distress to authorities. At 07.03 CET November 3rd we learned that the SAR vessels of Sea Eye and Mission Liveline had found the 75 people in distress and were carrying out a rescue operation.

Tweets

November 2nd

21.35 CET

November 3rd

21.33 CET

Last update: 22:53 Jun 08, 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