05/03: 41 travellers intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard

Verified

  In Distress   Interception

06.03.2022 / 09:02 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 5th March 2022

Case name: 2022_03_05-CM045

Situation: 41 travellers in distress in the Central Med, intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Saturday the 5th of March 2022, the Alarm Phone shift team received a direct call from a boat in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. Onboard were 41 travellers, including two pregnant women and a child. They told us that they had left from Zawiyah, Libya at 04.00 CET the same morning. As they did not have a satellite phone onboard, the connection was very bad and we knew that once they were far enough away from the coast they would lose the possibility to communicate with anyone. They told us that water was entering the boat, and managed to send us their GPS position. We immediately alerted the relevant search and rescue authorities to the distress situation via email. In addition, we attempted to call many different phone numbers of the so-called Libyan coastguard but were unable to reach them. After this, we lost contact to the travellers. At 20.35 CET the so-called Libyan coastguard told us that they had intercepted a boat matching the description we had given. Soon after, a relative of one of the travellers informed us that they had just spoken to the travellers who confirmed that they were onboard the vessel of the so-called Libyan coastguard.
Last update: 09:07 Sep 12, 2022
Credibility: UP DOWN 0
Layers »
  • 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

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