27/06: 38 travellers probably intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard

Verified

  In Distress   Interception

28.06.2024 / 21:31 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations 27th June 2024

Case name: 2024_06_27-CM189

Situation: 38 travellers in distress in the Central Med, probably intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Thursday the 27th of June 2024, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of 38 travellers, including eight women and two babies, in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. The travellers had left from Libya the previous evening on a black rubber boat. We received their GPS position from the relative and immediately alerted the relevant search and rescue authorities, relaying all the information we had. Later, we learned that the so-called Libyan coastguard had intercepted a boat matching the description we had been given.
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

Related Reports

22:29 Dec 27, 2019 / Central Mediterranean Sea Kms
26/12: 32 travellers in distress in the Central Med rescued by Alan Kurdi
23:56 Jan 22, 2018 / Central Mediterranean Sea Kms
17/01: Alarm Phone in direct contact with 7 people in distress on their way from Libya to Sicily, rescued by a European vessel
15:46 Jan 19, 2024 / Central Mediterranean Kms
18/01: 45 travellers intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard
19:16 Sep 03, 2019 / Central Mediterrean Kms
02/09: 100 people from Sabratah, intercepted back to Libya
20:47 May 23, 2024 / Central Mediterranean Kms
22/05: 55 travellers probably intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard