21/07: 62 travellers illegally pulled-back by the so-called Libyan coastguard

22.07.2024 / 11:03 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations 21th July 2024

Case name: 2024_07_21-CM240

Situation: 62 travellers in distress in the Maltese SAR zone, illegally pulled back by the so-called Libyan coastguard.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Sunday the 21st of July 2024 just before midnight, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to a group of around 62 travellers in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. They told us that they had no more fuel left and that their boat was taking in water. We managed to get their GPS position, showing that they were in the Maltese search and rescue zone. We then immediately alerted the relevant search and rescue authorities, relaying all the information we had. We stayed in contact with the travellers and passed on updates from the boat to authorities as often as possible. Later, we learned that the travellers had illegally been pulled back from the Maltese search and rescue zone by the so-called Libyan coastguard, while both Italy and Malta were aware of what was happening. The people on the boat were then brought back to Libya, the place they had attempted to flee.

Tweets about the case:

https://x.com/alarm_phone/status/1815284790913876320

https://x.com/alarm_phone/status/1815298347168575820

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