Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 26th of May 2016

Case name: 2016_05_26-CM62
Situation: Alarm Phone called by two boats in distress in the Central Med, each with 500 travellers on board; at least 400 died after one boat capsized about 70km northeast of Zuwara, Libya
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Thursday the 26th of May 2016 at 5.25am, the Alarm Phone received a direct call via satellite phone from a boat in distress between Libya and Italy. We heard engine sounds in the back, but as the person who called us spoke Arabic, we only understood ‘Libya’ and ‘Italy’. With the help of a translator we learned at 5.34am, that the travellers had told us about two big boats that had left from Libya, each carrying 500 people. They had already called the Italian coastguard, who did not respond. Between 5.40am and 6am we tried to call the travellers again, but did not reach them. Meanwhile, we checked the credit of the Thuraya satellite phone, which was at 70 units. At 6.10am, we called the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) and passed on the number of the satellite phone. They had already received the satellite phone’s number, but had also not been able to call the travellers back and had not yet received their GPS position. At 6.17am, we called the travellers again and tried to advise them how to forward their GPS position to us. At 6.21am, we received their coordinates and were also told that one of the two boats was about to sink. The person we talked to was in panic. At 6.29am, we forwarded the GPS coordinates to the Italian MRCC. At 6.51am, we informed the crew of the rescue vessel SEA WATCH 2 via phone and email about the boats in distress. In the meantime, the credit of the traveller’s satellite phone went down to 56 units. At 6.58am, we sent an email to the Italian MRCC with the boat’s position and all information we had. At 7.10am, we learned from the travellers that they had met a third boat, with 35 people on board. Afterwards, we called the private rescue vessel SEA-EYE, because their boat was closest to the boats in distress. They took our information and told us that they were in contact with MRCC Rome, but too far away from the boats. At 7.56am, the travellers called us again and we asked them to send us their updated GPS position. We received their latest coordinates at 7.58am and immediately called MRCC Rome and forwarded the new position. At 8.12am, we also sent an email to the Italian coastguard and other actors with the updated coordinates. At 8.19am, we received another updated position. At 8.23am, the people on board called us again, informing us that one of the large wooden boats was cracking and that water was entering the boat in the lower level. The travellers were desperately trying to empty the boat from water. They also told us that there were at least 1030 people on the three wooden boats, one boat towing the two others. At 8.30am, we called the Italian Augusta Offshore Company, as one of their vessels, the tug ship ASSO VENTIQUATTRO (IMO 9235294) was very close to the boats in distress. We were provided with the phone number of the company’s operation department, but we were not able to reach this office at that point in time. At 8.35am, we saw that the satellite phone’s credit went down to 39.5 units. At the same time, we tried to call another vessel in close vicinity, the MINERVA ZEN, but were not able to reach it. At 8.40am, we called the Maltese coastguard. They were already aware of the boat in distress and told us that beyond that, there were at least 17 other rescue operations ongoing. At 8.45am, the travellers called us again and told us that one of the boats just sank and that there were 500 people in the water, many of them had already drowned. The people on board asked us to also alert the Libyan coastguard. We tried to reach several numbers of the Libyan coastguard, but were not successful. Thus, we also called the Tunisian coastguard and forwarded all information to them, we had obtained so far. At 9am, we called the operations centre of the Augusta Offshore Company and were told that their vessel ASSO VENTIQUATTRO was alerted by the Italian coastguard and was on its way in order to rescue the travellers on the sinking boat. At 9.20am we were again in contact with the travellers. They told us that many people had already died, the person we talked to saw many people drowning. One of the larger boats was sinking and the other large boat had started to leak as well. At 9.28am, the satellite phone’s credit was at 33 units. At 9.48am, we sent another email to several coastguards and private rescue organizations, informing them about the shipwreck of one of the boats and asking for immediate help for the travellers who have not yet drowned. At 9.56am, we finally reached the Libyan coastguard and forwarded all our information to them. At 10.03am, the travellers on board of one of the ships told us that they had seen a vessel in an estimated distance of 15 minutes, which had then disappeared again. We asked for updated coordinates and urged them to use whatever objects available to reflect the light of the sun, in order to help rescue vessel to find them. At 10.05am, we observed on vesselfinder.com that both the MINERVA ZEN and the ASSO VENTIQUATTRO were obviously searching in the area of the boat in distress, but not at the exact position we had received from the travellers. At 10.06am, the credit of the travellers’ satellite phone was 22 units, but at 10.15am we not able to reach them. At 10.18am, we saw that the Italian coastguard vessel CP 324 was heading in the direction of the boat in distress. At 10.30am, we were able to talk to the travellers again, who told us that an Italian commercial vessel had rescued the travellers on the small boat, about 30 people. At 10.37am, we saw that several vessels were approaching the position of the boats in distress, i.a. the OOC TIGER and the ASSO VENTICINQUE. At 11am, we charged the credit of the travellers’ satellite phone and asked them via short message to send us their latest position. But in the following hours, we were not able to reach the travellers again. However, we continued to observe the ongoing rescue operations and tried to get updates from the Italian and Maltese coastguard and from private rescue organizations like SEA-WATCH. In the afternoon, at 5.50pm, the MRCC Rome told us that the boats we had been in contact with, had been rescued. But we still feared, that this information only could include the first big boat (with Thuraya Phone on board) and the very small one. It remained an open question, what happened to all the people on the second big boat, after it obviously sank. Although MRCC did not mention any fatalities in their daily statement, we know about a lot of death by other sources. In contact with SEA WATCH we learned that they recovered several bodies very close to the GPS location of the estimated accident.

On the following days, we received the sad confirmation by survivors of this shipwreck, that probably more than 400 people drowned and disappeared with the second boat and that only about 100 people were able to swim to the other boats or have been rescued after the boat sank. The Alarm Phone published a first statement on this case in the afternoon of Tuesday the 26th of May (Source 1) and a more general one on the next day (Source 2).

The bitter truth was again concluded in the following sentences of a posting on our Facebook page:

"Our biggest fears seem to become confirmed. A few days ago we were in direct contact with a refugee-boat carrying altogether about 500 travellers. They were towing a second refugee-boat, also with about 500 travellers on board. Rescue was not in sight and over many hours, the situation grew more and more desperate until, eventually, the towed boat capsized. Our contact to the boat then broke off (for our log book entries, see: http://alarmphone.org/en/2016/05/27/statement-in-light-of-the-current-situation-in-the-mediterranean-sea/).

Now the survivors have reached Italy and through their witness accounts, it seems confirmed that hundreds died, maybe up 550 people. Some people off the sinking boat seemed to have been able to swim to the first boat and survive. Others were able to stay alive until rescue services arrived. However, many more seem to have lost their lives. Some news sources speak of 700 deaths over the past few days, other of 900 (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36408029).

Europe, these are your deaths. Once again you have turned the sea into a deadly deterrent. You will again blame the smugglers for these fatalities but we know that they are only a direct effect of your policies, an industry that you keep subsidizing. We will struggle on to counter your policies of deterrence, leaving-to-die and abandonment: Ferries not Frontex!"