18/06 46 people embarked in Zawiah, rescued by Seawatch

19.06.2020 / 18:16 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 18th of June 2020

Case name: 2020_06_18-CM254
Situation: 46 people embarked in Zawiah, rescued by Seawatch
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean
Summary of the Case:

Just before 19:00 CEST we were contacted by a group of travellers in the Maltese SAR zone. They were in serious distress and exhausted. Water was entering the boat. This is unsurprising as they had left Zawiah in Libya at 04:00 that morning. We tried to contact the Maltese coastguard, but they were not answering the phone. We sent an email to the coastguard, copying in the Italian authorities and Seawatch who were active in the area.

Still unable to raise the alert by phone with the apparent competent authority, Malta, we tweeted the following:

Boat in distress in #Malta SAR zone! A wooden boat in distress with 49 people fleeing #Libya, including 2 pregnant women & a child, just reached out to #AlarmPhone. They are 50nm from Lampedusa. The people are panicking as water is entering the boat. They need urgent rescue!

The only effect of our tweets seem to be that Malta was prepared to answer the phone. They seemed uninterested in launching rescue. Fortunately, Seawatch was active and engaged. They were able to locate the boat at around 22:30 and brought the 46 travellers, 45 men and 1 woman, on board.

In a world without racism, there is no need for Seawatch.
Last update: 18:11 Sep 24, 2020
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