28/08: 280 Travellers in distress in the Central Mediterranean

29.08.2016 / 17:42 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 28th of August 2016

Case name: 2016_08_28-CM80
Situation: 280 travellers in distress in the Central Mediterranean, saved by Italian Navy
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the Cases: On Sunday, the 28th of August 2016 at 6.30 am, the Alarm Phone was called by a contact person about a boat in distress on the way from Libya to Italy. The only information we received about the boat was the number of the satellite phone on board. We passed on the number to the Italian coast guard. Neither we, nor the contact person managed to re-establish communication with the travellers, but by monitoring the balance of the satellite phone we could see that they were in contact with others from time to time, as their credit decreased.
At 7.12 am, we received an email from Father Mussie Zerai about the same vessel, stating that they were 176 travellers, amongst them 60 women and 20 children. At 8.16 am we managed to reach the travellers. They informed us that they were 280 people on board, and gave us coordinates. When we talked to the Italian coast guard again at 8.33 am, they informed us that they had been in touch with the travellers several times, and that they knew their position. They estimated that their rescue vessel would reach the travellers in three to four hours. At 10.48 am we managed to establish connection to the vessel, and the travellers informed us that they could see another ship. We instructed them to stay calm and wait for the rescue. When we called back the Italian coast guard, they confirmed that the ship the travellers could see was the rescue vessel. At 11.33 am we were in contact with the travellers again. They informed us that a helicopter just flew above their vessel, and then left again. They also said that people amongst them were ill. After this conversation it was not possible to re-establish contact. At 1.39 pm the Italian coast guard told us that they were about to begin the rescue operation in a few minutes. At 5.45pm the Italian coast guard informed us that the vessel had been rescued by the Italian navy, as one of 11 rescue operations that had been carried out in the Strait of Sicily, rescuing a total of 1100 travellers.

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