Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 5th March 2022

Case name: 2022_03_05-CM044

Situation: 31 travellers in distress in the Central Med, rescued by rescue NGO vessel Geo Barents.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Saturday the 5th of March 22022, the Alarm Phone shift team received a direct call from a boat in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. Onboard were 31 travellers. The travellers had left the previous evening on a grey rubber boat. They told us that their engine was no longer working and they were therefore left adrift. We managed to get their GPS position and immediately alerted the relevant search and rescue authorities to the distress situation. We remained in contact with the travellers and relayed their updated GPS position to the authorities when possible as well as information about the situation onboard. Over the phone we could hear that the distress became more urgent due to bad weather conditions. In the evening, we also learned that the health situation onboard was deteriorating and that a pregnant woman among the travellers was in a bad state. At 22.42 CET the travellers told us that they could see a big vessel nearby. We advised them to attempt to attract attention by making light. At 00.04 CET on 6th of March the travellers reported that a vessel was very close to them and that the crew onboard had seen them. We later learned that the travellers had been rescued in Maltese waters by the search and rescue NGO vessel Geo Barents, operated by Doctors without Borders. The rubber boat had capsized during the operation, but all travellers had successfully been recovered from the water.