21/01: 24 travellers intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard

22.01.2022 / 09:25 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 21st January 2022

Case name: 2022_01_21-CM015

Situation: 24 travellers in distress in the Central Med, intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard and brought back to Libya.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Friday the 21st of January 2022, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of around 24 travellers in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. The travellers had left from Misrata the same morning at around 05.00 CET on a rubber boat, and we were informed that they had problems with the engine. We managed to reach the travellers and got their GPS position, which we immediately relayed, together with all other information we had, to the relevant rescue authorities. We stayed in contact with the boat and forwarded their updated position to the authorities when possible. From the travellers we learned that the situation onboard was getting increasingly dangerous as weather conditions deteriorated and their boat started taking in water. We informed the rescue authorities about merchant vessels in the vicinity, urging them to coordinate rescue without delay. The so-called Libyan coastguard told us that they had been searching for the travellers with a vessel but had had to turn around and go back as they did not have enough fuel to complete their mission. However, in the early hours of the morning, the so-called Libyan coastguard informed us that they had intercepted the travellers and would bring them back to Libya.

Tweets https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1484816686062743557

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