Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 24th November 2021

Case name: 2021_11_24-CM644

Situation: 85 travellers in distress in the Central Med, in urgent distress as they were being attacked by the so-called Libyan coastguard. Finally all travellers were intercepted and brought back to Libya.

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 85 travellers in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. We managed to reach the travellers, who told us that the so-called Libyan coastguard was chasing them and shooting at their boat. We managed to get their GPS position, which we immediately forwarded to the Italian and Maltese coastguards along with all other information we had about the situation. However, neither of them were willing to tell us whether they would take any steps to prevent the attack by the so-called Libyan coastguard and ensure the safety of the travellers. We lost contact to the travellers, and by monitoring the credit of their satellite phone online we could tell that they were also not in contact with anyone else on land. We later learned from the relative that all the travellers had been intercepted and returned to Libya.

Tweets about the case: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1463532081393324034?s=21https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1463549618130722821?s=21https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1463601472331993092