31/10: 27 travellers intercepted to Libya and imprisoned.

01.11.2021 / 18:45 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 31st October 2021

Case name: 2021_10_31-CM607

Situation: 27 travellers in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea, intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard and imprisoned in Libya.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Sunday the 31st of October 2021,the Alarm Phone shift team received a direct call from a boat in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. Onboard were around 27 travellers, including two women and two children. The travellers had left from Sabratha, Libya, on a blue wooden boat. They told us that they had run out of fuel and were therefore adrift. Several of the travellers were sea sick, and one of the travellers was disabled. The connection was very bad, and communication with the boat was therefore difficult. However, eventually we managed to get the GPS position of the boat. At 17.54 CET we sent an email to all relevant rescue authorities, alerting them to the distress of the travellers. At 17.57 CET the travellers told us that they had seen an aircraft circling their boat and that they could see that a vessel in the distance had stopped. After this, we were no longer able to reach the travellers. We later learned that the travellers had been intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard, that they had been brought back to Libya, the country they attempted to flee, and were being held in the Traabulus prison.

Last update: 22:40 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