Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 23rd October 2021

Case name: 2021_10_23-CM603

Situation: 68 travellers in distress in the Central Med, rescued and brought to Lampedusa.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Saturday the 23rd of October 2021, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of 68 travelers, including many women and children, in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. The travellers had left from Sabratha the same morning at around 02.00 local time on a blue wooden boat. Despite many attempts we did not manage to reach the travellers directly, but through the relative we managed to get a position they had sent earlier. At 16.53 CEST we forwarded all the information we had to the relevant rescue authorities. At 21.31 CEST we finally managed to reach the boat. The travellers gave us their position and told us that they could see a bigger vessel nearby. After this, we stayed in touch with the travellers and relayed their updated GPS positions to the relevant authorities. At 04.18 CEST the travellers told us that they had run out of fuel. At 10.57 CEST the travellers told us that they could see an aircraft above them. Online we could see that an aircraft of Frontex was in the same location as the travellers. We could hear that people on the boat were panicking. At 13.55 CEST the travellers were only a few nautical miles from Lampedusa. We urged the Italian coastguard to intervene, as the situation onboard was deteriorating and water was entering the boat. A relative who spoke to the boat told us that three travellers had fallen into the water and did not manage to get back onboard. This was the last time we had news directly from the boat. The following day we learned that a boat matching the description we had been given had been rescued and brought to Lampedusa.

Tweets about the case: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1452272886014742535?s=20