11/06: Alarm Phone in contact with 120 people in distress north of Al Khums/Libya; all rescued

12.06.2017 / 09:58 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 11th of June 2017

Case name: 2017_06_11-CM107
Situation: Alarm Phone in contact with 120 people in distress north of Al Khums/Libya; all rescued
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Sunday the 11th of June 2017 at 8am, Father Mussie Zerai alerted the Alarm Phone to a boat in distress with about 120 people on board and forwarded their GPS position and satellite phone number to us. We immediately checked the position of the boat – which was about 11 kilometres off the Libyan territorial waters north of Al Khums – and also the phone’s credit. At 8.13am, we were able to briefly talk to the travellers. They informed us that they had already contacted the Italian coastguard. We asked for a confirmation of the GPS position, but then the phone connection broke down. At 8.18am, we called the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Rome and forwarded all information we had received so far. According to them, they had not been in contact with the boat in question. At 8.37am, we saw that their satellite phone’s credit had slightly decreased. At 8.46am, we were able to talk to them again. They confirmed that they were 120 people on board, but afterwards we had problems to receive an updated GPS position. At 9am, we talked to the travellers again and learned that their boat was a white rubber boat. At 9.12am, we forwarded this information to the MRCC via email. At 10.05am, we recharged the travellers’ satellite phone and also tried to reach the travellers again, but without success. At 10.21am, we talked to the MRCC in Rome again. We were told that they had ordered the two cargo vessels HH18 and STELLAR BALTIC to the estimated position of the boat in distress and asked them to conduct a rescue operation. We checked both ships on vesselfinder.com and estimated that both would need more than 4 hours to reach the boat in distress. In the following hours, we tracked the course of the two cargo vessels and the credit of the travellers’ satellite phone. Their credit remained unchanged, but although we continuously tried to call them, we did not reach them anymore. At 3.40pm, we observed that the cargo vessel HH18 had stopped its course and seemed to conduct a rescue operation. At 7pm, we talked to the MRCC in Rome again and learned that the boat in distress had been rescued. At 11.45pm, the MRCC also confirmed to us via email, that all travellers on board of the boat had been rescued.
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