Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 21st of January 2024
Case name: 2024_01_21-Eastern Med - 029
Situation: Boat from Libya with 36 people alerted by JRCC Pireaus
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Eastern Med

Summary of the Case:
In the afternoon of the 21st of January 2024, Alarm Phone contacted JRCC Pireaus to ask for information for another case. The officer on the phone asked Alarm Phone to assist with a boat in distress between Libya and Greece that they had been made aware of. The officer shared the phone number of the boat and explained that they have not managed to receive a position from the people on board. Thereafter, Alarm Phone established direct contact to the people in distress. They told us they were 36 people on a rubber boat and called for help, as they were barely moving. After we managed to receive a GPS position from the people, we shared the position and the information we were able to collect with Greek authorities AT 17:14 CET. We also mentioned that the merchant vessel ONE FANTASTIC is near the boat.
On the phone, JRCC Piraeus refused to react to the distress. They claimed the boat is in Libyan waters and thus Libya is responsible to rescue the people. When asked, if they will support the coordination of the rescue, their reply was just "No“, before the officer hung up the phone on our shift team. We kept in contact with the people and sent several mails with updated positions. However, the Hellenic Coast Guard continued to deny any attempt to coordinate and shifted responsibility to the Libyan authorities. At 21:16, we received an email by JRCC Cairo, underlining the fact, that it "seems no responsibility has been taken yet" by Libya and clearly stating that "the next closest center to the updated position is RSC Chania in Greece".
Around 22:00 CET, we managed to reach the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. They told us that they instructed the merchant vessel ONE FANTASTIC to stay with the boat and advised them to bring the people on board. However, the merchant vessel left the scene. The officer on the phone also confirmed that Libya has no asset to send to the distress.
We tweeted again about the developments: "We were in contact with Rescue Coordination Centres in Greece, Egypt & Libya. They all know about the boat, nobody did anything to rescue. The merchant vessel ONE FANTASTIC that was nearby LEFT THE PEOPLE BEHIND. This collective irresponsibility is why so many die in the Med!"
At 22:30 CET. we finally received the information that the merchant vessel LIDER HALIL replaced ONE FANTASTIC and stayed near the boat. LIDER HALIL then carried out the rescue, taking the 36 people on board and bringing them to Crete.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1748764964146282771