03/11: ~400 people in distress in Maltese SAR zone, rescued by SAR vessels

04.11.2021 / 16:48 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – November 3rd 2021

Case name: 2021_11_03-CM614

Situation: ~400 people in distress in Maltese SAR, rescued by SAR vessels of Sea Eye and SOS Mediteranée

WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of Case: In the night of November 3rd Alarm Phone was called by a group of around 400 people in distress. The caller related that water had started entering the boat and that the group was in immediate need of assistance. We received a GPS position and forwarded the alert to authorities at 01.25 CET. Throughout the night and following daylight hours we forwarded updated GPS positions related to us by the people in distress to authorities. Around midday the same day we received an second distress call, which we later on found came from the same boat. In the late evening of November 3rd we learnt that the ~400 people in distress had been rescued by SAR vessles of Sea Eye and SOS Mediteranée.

Tweets

November 3rd

14.10 CET

14.55 CET

November 4th

09.40 CET

09.40 CET

Last update: 22:54 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