Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations 9th February 2024
Case name: 2024_02_09-CM037
Situation: Around 50 travellers in distress in the Central Med, landed on Tunisian island.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Friday the 9th of February 2024, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to a group of around 50 travellers, including four women and four children, in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. The travellers had left from Libya on a blue wooden boat. The travellers told us that the waves around them were high and that they were running out of fuel. We managed to get their GPS position, showing that they were in the Tunisian search and rescue zone, and immediately alerted the relevant search and rescue authorities, relaying all the information we had. We stayed in contact with the boat and could hear that the panic onboard was increasing as time passed. In two separate calls they told us that some travellers had already died. We passed on this information to the authorities. The Tunisian coastguard confirmed to us on the phone that they were searching for the boat. Later, we learned from the Tunisian coastguard that 49 travellers had arrived to Kerkennah Island alive. We were not able to verify whether some travellers had died during the journey.

Tweets about the case: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1755911993607799081?s=09