21/11: 92 travellers in distress in the Central Med, fate unknown

22.11.2021 / 19:50 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 21st November 2021

Case name: 2021_11_21-CM640

Situation: 92 travellers in urgent distress in the Central Med, their fate remains unknown.

Status of WTM Investigation: fate unknown

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Sunday the 21st of November 2021, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of 92 travellers, including 17 children and nine women of which four were pregnant, in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. The travellers had left in the night, and had run out of fuel. From their voices we could tell that they were panicking. We managed to reach the travellers and got their GPS position. We alerted all relevant rescue authorities to the distress case. We stayed in contact with the travellers whose situation deteriorated as weather became increasingly bad and water started entering the boat. After this, we lost contact to the boat. The Maltese and Italian coastguard refused to give us any information about ongoing efforts to rescue the travellers. We were never able to find out what happened to the travellers and fear the worst.

Tweets about the case: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1462455212183011335?s=21

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