Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 14th of August 2018
Case name: 2018_08_14-CM134
Situation: 35 people rescued to Malta
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On August 14th at 12 noon, the Alarm Phone received a call from a boat in distress carrying 35 people, including 9 children. The boat had left from Libya. When the Alarm Phone first made contact, the boat was in international waters. The shift team alerted the Italian coastguards (MRCC) to the case. The shift team furthermore stayed in touch with the travelers and received regularly updated GPS positions. At 17.18h CET, MRCC Rome informed the Alarm Phone that they would inform the so-called Libyan coastguards about the boat. At 19.34h, the people on the boat informed the Alarm Phone that they could see two vessels in their vicinity. At 23.45h, MRCC Rome once again stated that the Libyan authorities were responsible for the boat, not them, despite its location in international waters.

The following day, August 15th, the people were still at sea. In a phone conversation with MRCC Rome at 13.54h, they informed the Alarm Phone that they could do nothing about the situation and that the Alarm Phone should inform the responsible authorities—the Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) Malta. The Alarm Phone spoke to RCC Malta at 14.06h and informed them about the distress situation. Over the following hours, we received updated GPS coordinates from the people on the boat, showing that they had been able to move much closer to Malta. At 18.00h, the Alarm Phone was informed that Malta would conduct a search in the area of where the boat had been last located.

At 18.48h, the Alarm phone received an update that the travellers were being approached by a Maltese ship. At 19.02h, the Alarm Phone received news that they had been escorted to the harbour. At 20.00h, the Armed Forces of Malta confirmed in a press release that they had rescued the boat carrying 35 people.