02/01: 44 travellers in distress in the Central Med, outcome unclear

03.01.2024 / 13:34 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 2nd of January 2024
Case name: 2024_01_02-CM002
Situation: Alarm Phone lost contact to a boat with 44 people in international waters off the coast of Libya, outcome unclear
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: In the afternoon of the 2nd of January 2024, a relative alerted the Alarm Phone shift team to a boat in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. There were 44 people on the boat. The place and the date of departure of the boat was unclear, but the shift team managed to reach the travellers. They had very little fuel left, water was entering the boat and the weather was worsening. The shift team relayed all the information to the Italian and Maltese authorities and alerted a merchant vessel close to the boat. The shift team did not manage to reach the travellers again and the authorities did not provide any information about whether a search and rescue operation was carried out. The outcome stays unknown until this day.

Tweets about this case: https://x.com/alarm_phone/status/1742214192751333878?s=20

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