Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 17th October 2021

Case name: 2021_10_17-CM593

Situation: 33 travellers on two boats in distress in the Central Med rescued by NGO vessels Nadir and Geo Barents

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Sunday the 17th of October 2021, the Alarm Phone shift team received a direct call from a boat in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. Onboard were 14 people, three men and eight children and three women of who one was eight months pregnant, who were travelling on a white fiber glass boat. They were not wearing life vests. The travellers were panicking and told us that water was entering their boat. We managed to get their GPS position, and immediately forwarded this, together with all other information we had to all relevant rescue authorities. The engine of the boat was still running, and the travellers continued heading north. In the early evening we received an updated position from the travellers, showing that they had made it to the Maltese search and rescue zone. Throughout the evening we forwarded the updated GPS positions of the travellers to the authorities several times. In the early hours of the morning the travellers told us on the phone that they could see a German vessel approaching. We later learned that this was the sailing boat Nadir, which had rescued 26 out of a total of 33 travellers from two different boats. Some of the travellers, including the pregnant women and many children, required urgent medical assistance. As the capacities of the sailing boat were limited, they relayed a Mayday, resulting in the NGO vessel Geo Barents arriving and assisting in the rescue of the travellers.