Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 24th November 2021

Case name: 2021_11_24-CM643

Situation: 487 travellers in urgent distress in the Maltese search and rescue zone, finally rescued by the Tunisian coastguard and brought to Tunisia after many hours of delay and non-assistance by European rescue authorities.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Wednesday the 24th of November 2021, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of 487 travellers, including many women and children in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. They were travelling on a blue wooden boat with two decks, and we were told that around 130 travellers were kept on the lower deck. The travellers had left from Sabratha, Libya. We managed to reach the travellers and got their GPS position. They also told us that their engine was not working properly. We forwarded all the information we had to all the relevant rescue authorities. The Italian coastguard insisted that they were not the competent authority to conduct the search and rescue operation, despite us reminding them that the so-called Libyan coastguard was not adequately equipped to carry out rescue of a boat of this size. Throughout the day we stayed in touch with the travellers and updated the authorities several times with the actual position and situation of the boat in distress, which had started to take in water. At 20.55 CET one of the travellers told us that one man had already died on the boat and that more people were close to death. We could hear the panic increase onboard as time passed and more and more water entered the boat. However, the authorities remained unwilling to inform us of any ongoing search and rescue operation, and we could thus not calm down the travellers with the news that rescue was underway. At 00.44 CET the Tunisian coastguard told us that they were attempting to coordinate a rescue operation with the Italian coastguard, but that they did not have capacity to rescue such a large number of people at night. Despite this, the Italian coastguard continued to claim that they were not the competent authority to handle the distress case. At 01.30 CET the travellers told us that four of them had died. We urged the authorities to coordinate a rescue operation involving the nearby merchant vessels, sending them a list of all vessels we could find in the vicinity. At 02.43 CET the Tunisian coastguard told us that they were now trying to coordinate a rescue operation with the Maltese coastguard, but that they had still not found a solution. At 03.26 CET the travellers told us “thank you, we are with God now” meaning that they had given up all hope of getting rescued and were praying and expecting to die. At 04.50 CET they told us three young children had died as well as they had had neither food nor water for the past three days. They also said that the boat was breaking apart. At 07.03 CET they told us that several people were in the water. At 07.53 CET the travellers reported that 15 people had died. At 08.47 CET the Tunisian coastguard finally confirmed that they had sent two naval assets to the last position of the travellers. At 09.10 CET the travellers reported to us on the phone that a vessel of the Tunisian coastguard had arrived and filmed their boat, but that they had so far not attempted to rescue the travellers. At 11.39 the Tunisian coastguard could still not give us an estimate of how long rescue would take, but only told us that it was ongoing. After this, we were no longer able to reach the travellers. At 13.04 CET the Tunisian coastguard informed us that they had sent four vessels to the position of the travellers in the Maltese seach and rescue zone. In the evening at 18.27 CET the Tunisian coastguard informed us that they had rescued more than 400 travellers from the sinking boat. We insisted that the travellers should be taken to Malta, as they had been rescued within the Maltese search and rescue zone. At 22.05 CET the Tunisian coastguard told us that all travellers had been rescued. They said that they were all in good conditions and that they had found no dead bodies. At 07.43 CET the Tunisian coastguard confirmed that all travellers had been found alive, and that they would be brought to Tunisia. Thus, the travellers’ right to claim asylum in Europe was violated, as they had reached the Maltese search and rescue zone but were nevertheless brought to Tunisia.

Tweets about the case: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1463495383892611080?s=21https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1463498745912479748?s=21https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1463586258131820548?s=21