11/03: 93 travellers intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard

12.03.2022 / 09:10 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 11th March 2022

Case name: 2022_03_11-CM046

Situation: 93 travellers in distress in the Central Med, intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard and imprisoned in Zawiya.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Friday the 11th of March 2022, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a boat in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. Onboard were 93 travellers who had left from Zuwarah, Libya, the previous evening on a grey wooden boat. The relative forwarded us the position of the boat at 14:50 CET, at which time the travellers had been able to see a plane. We were not able to establish direct contact to the boat, and by monitoring the credit of their satellite phone online we could see that they were not in contact with anyone else either. However, we immediately alerted all relevant search and rescue authorities to the distress situation. In the evening, we the relative informed us that the boat had been intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard and that the travellers were being held in a prison in Zawiya.

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