Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 29th September 2021

Case name: 2021_09_29-CM582

Situation: Around 120 travellers in distress in the Central Med, probably rescued to Lampedusa although no final confirmation was possible.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Wednesday the 29th of September 2021, the Alarm Phone shift team received a direct call from a group of around 120 travellers in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. The travellers told us that they were approximately 70-80 men, 40-50 women and seven children, none of them wearing life jackets. They had left from Sabratha on a blue wooden boat and said that their engine was not working well, causing them to only be able to move slowly. The travellers further told us that they were in urgent distress as water was coming into the boat and they feared the boat would capsize. They managed to forward us their GPS position. We immediately alerted all relevant rescue authorities to the distress of the travellers. We stayed in contact with the travellers, and were able to update the authorities with their GPS positions and the situation onboard the boat. We also recharged the travellers phone credit, allowing them to communicate while they were at sea.

In the evening we learned that a blue wooden matching the description of the boat in question had been found close to the Italian island Lampedusa. We asked the Italian coastguard to confirm the rescue of the travellers to no avail. We hope all of the travellers arrived safely to Lampedusa.