05/07: Alarm Phone informed about boat in distress in the Central Med, rescued by SOS Mediterranee

Verified

  In Distress

06.07.2016 / 12:00 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 05th of July 2016

Case name: 2016_07_05-CM67
Situation: Alarm Phone informed about boat in distress north of Al Khums, Libya; 100 travellers rescued by SOS Mediterranee
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Tuesday, the 5th of July 2016 at 9.48am, Father Mussie Zerai alerted the Alarm Phone to a boat in distress in the Central Med, with 110 travellers on board. He forwarded their GPS position and their satellite phone number to us. Although we were not able to reach the travellers directly, we checked and charged their phone’s credit several times. Beyond that, we established contact to the private rescue vessel AQUARIUS, which had been tasked with a rescue operation by the MRCC in Rome, and monitored their trajectory. At 2.45pm, the crew of the AQUARIUS confirmed to us that they had rescued the travellers on board of the boat in distress. Later on, MRCC Rome announced that 4300 travellers had been rescued on that day in 30 rescue operations.
Last update: 16:12 Aug 26, 2016
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

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