Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 1st of August 2020

Case name: 2020_08_1-CM277

Situation: 39 men, 20 children and 4 women rescued to Lampedusa; 65 people, including 2 pregnant women and 5 children rescued to Lampedusa; 56 men, 10 women and 5 children rescued after an inexplicable delay by the AFM; 9 men, 8 women, 5 children reach Lampedusa

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:

Case 1

At 01:35 CEST in the morning of 1 August 2020, we were contacted by somebody in a boat in distress in the Mediterranean. The boat was carrying 63 people, including four women and 20 children. They had been at sea for two days and were in a bad way. The engine was playing up, but they were largely able to continue moving north. They passed a position that showed them to be in the Maltese search and rescue zone. We passed the position to the Maltese authorities but were unable to reach them by phone.

We remained in contact with the travellers throughout the night. The situation was becoming harder and harder for them. The children were becoming fractious and some of the travellers were coming in and out of consciousness because of exhaustion and dehydration.

We had good contact with the boat and received regular positions. We passed all of the positions to the authorities, but had no response. Fortunately the boat was able to continue north until around about 08:30 when the fuel ran out. We were not able to get a final position, but the travellers informed us that they could see an island. It was almost certain that they were within a few nautical miles off Lampedusa.

Unable to reach the boat and unable to receive information from the Armed Forces of Malta or MRCC Rome, at 11:52 we sent out the following tweet

Two more boats reached out to AP last night and this morning, one wooden boat with ~63 ppl and one rubber boat with ~65 onboard. We informed authorities of their positions. This morning they both reached the Italian SAR zone. They need help and we call for immediate rescue!

About an hour later a friend of the travellers reached out to us to let us know that people had been transferred onto an Italian vessel.

Case 2


At about 09:00 CEST we were contacted by a boat in distress. They had been at sea for three days and without food and water. The boat was still more or less seaworthy, though the passengers were exhausted and were without lifejackets. The boat was carrying 65 people, including two pregnant women and five children.

They were able to give a position which showed them to be close to Lampedusa. We immediately contacted the Italian authorities who took the information. That was as far as the communication went. We remained in contact with the boat and updated the authorities as they continue to move towards Lampedusa. The Italian coastguard neither confirmed nor denied that they had launched a rescue. This was unhelpful. We lost contact to the boat shortly after 10:00. We were unsure whether this was because rescue was ongoing or because they had experienced serious problems. We put out the following tweet:

Two more boats reached out to AP last night and this morning, one wooden boat with ~63 ppl and one rubber boat with ~65 onboard. We informed authorities of their positions. This morning they both reached the Italian SAR zone. They need help and we call for immediate rescue!

We later received information that they had been rescued to Lampedusa.

Case 3

Shortly before 13:00 CEST we were contacted by a boat in distress in the Maltese SAR zone. There were 71 people on board including 10 women and 5 children. The boat was drifting, deflating and in serious trouble. As always we attempted to phone the Armed Forces of Malta, but they did not answer their phone. We emailed them along with the Italian authorities, UNHCR and Seawatch’s airborne operations. We had the usual denial of responsibility by MRCC Rome and the anger that the potential deaths of 71 people left the European authorities unmoved.

We remained in touch with the boat throughout the afternoon. Their situation was worsening. There were reports the people had fallen in the water and that the boat was flooding. We tried to contact nearby merchant shipping without any success. We also had no success in raising the Maltese authorities by phone. We tweeted:

++ URGENT +++ We were called again by the 71 people in distress in #Malta SAR zone. They are urgently asking for help. They reported water entering the boat and that 10 people went overboard! Authorities are informed. Rescue is needed now!

At 17:15 we were able to spot the Italian flagged oil tanker, Neverland alter course towards the distress site. It was the first sign that the European authorities might be acting.

Just before 19:00 the NGO spotter plane, Moonbird, arrived on scene. They were able to locate the vessel and contact the Neverland via VHF radio. The Neverland confirmed that Malta had instructed them to stand by until one of their naval assets could arrive. We were able to pass that information onto the boat. We were not able to receive confirmation of the information from Malta. We put out the following tweet:

The merchant vessel #Neverland is near the people in distress but does not intervene. They are desperate and thirsty. Night is approaching and the situation gets more dangerous by the minute. It is Malta's duty to coordinate a rescue but they remain unresponsive to our calls!

We lost contact to the boat, but were informed that the Armed Forces of Malta had arrived at 21:30 . We could observe the Neverland start to leave the scene at about 23:00. We were hopeful that rescue was ongoing. However, shortly after 01:00 we were called by the people on board. They told us that the AFM were on scene but had done no more than distribute water. We continued trying to reach the passengers overnight, but without success. At around 06:00 in the morning we received another distress call from the people on board. They were extremely agitated and begging for help. We let the Maltese authorities know that we knew that the people had not yet been rescued and put out the following tweet:

Despite #AFM being on scene since yesterday evening, the ~71ppl are still not rescued this morning. #Neverland left and we fear #Malta is again putting lifes in danger while trying to organize another illegal pushback to #Libya.7:05 AM

We continued trying to contact Malta, but with no success. We try to get information from Rome and ask them to help us pressure Malta. They were not helpful. Moonbird returned to the scene to monitor what was going on. They also emailed the Maltese authorities reminding them of their legal duties to receive information about ongoing distress cases and to carry out rescues in their area of responsibility. It drew a blank. As did our tweet:

Where are they? Our contact to the ~71 people in distress onboard of the rubber boat was lost after 8.30h today. In our last call they were desperate as they could see Armed Forces of Malta vessels nearby watching them but not rescuing. We fear a push-back of the people to Libya.

Fortunately, at around 12:30 Moonbird was able to observe that the people had successfully transferred on to a Maltese naval patrol vessel. These delays endanger lives and serve no purpose. We demand that the European authorities stop messing about in life-and-death situations.

Case 4

Shortly before 11:00 CEST, 1 August 2020 we were contacted by a boat in distress. They had reached the Maltese search and rescue zone and was still moving north. However, the travellers had been at sea for over 10 hours and the boat was overloaded. There were 22 of them in a small wooden boat. Of the eight women on board, one was pregnant and there are also five children. We immediately reached out to the Maltese coastguard, but silence was the only response. We were forced to contact the Italian coastguard to ask them to forward the position to Malta.

We were able to maintain contact with the boat and updated the Italian and Maltese authorities throughout the afternoon. vWe immediately informed the coastguard, but had no reply. We took to Twitter:

The people in distress are adrift in the Maltese SAR zone as they don't have fuel anymore. People are trying to move on by paddling with their hands. Several children on board are panicking. We urge #Malta to act now!

This was our last contact the boat. Fearing the worst, at 17:36 we took to Twitter again:

We are not able to reconnect with the people for 3 hours now, so we don't know how they are. We ask @ArmedForcesMT: What actions will you take concerning people who are drifting in your SAR zone? Reminder: A push-back via the so-called Libyan Coastguard would be illegal!

We tried repeatedly overnight. We also contacted by many worried relatives. They too had not heard from the boat. Fortunately, just after 13:30 the following day we were contacted by one of the worried relatives. They had heard from their loved one. The boat had managed to reach Lampedusa. We were able to send out the following tweet:

We were informed by relatives that the ~22 people safely arrived in #Lampedusa. We are relieved that they survived the dangerous Mediterranean crossing!

We salute the courage of these people who fought for their right to cross the Mediterranean. We deplore the malicious indifference of the European coastguard.