Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 2nd of October 2020

Case name: 20201002-CM306

Situation: 38 travellers found drifted by AFM and were brought to Malta

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:

On 2nd October 2020 at 00:54h CET the Alarm Phone was called by a satellite phone. The travellers passed a GPS position and seemed worried about their route and the stability of their boat. So we alerted the authorities at 2nd October at 01:38h CET via email. We made the authorities aware of the bad weather conditions and that the boat was leaking. When the shift team called the travellers at 01:43h they stated to see a ship. The shift team could locate it on vesselfinder, it was the cargo ship AMBRA. One hour later the travellers passed another GPS position which clearly indicates that they were drifting, afterwards we understood they were doing so since 6 hours. The shift team reported this to the authorities via email, to call them were impossible. The travellers were not reachable anymore. At 05:11h the AMBRA was still on the spot. At 05:56h the shift team received another GPS position from the travellers which was transferred to the authorities, as well as at 07:21h. The communication to the travellers were difficult we couldn't find out what the situation is alike. The shift team tried to call the owner of AMBRA - no answer. The first tweet was published at 07:48h. At 8h the Alarm Phone reached the company of AMBRA and learned that the crew of the AMBRA were in touch with RCC Malta. 08:33h the shift team spoke to the travellers and received another GPS position. They have seen a helicopter and stated that the crew of the cargo vessel AMBRA tried to communicate with them but they didn't understand. The Alarm Phone tried to mediate between the travellers and the AMBRA. The travellers asked for water but the AMBRA wanted to wait for instruction by RCC Malta and also said due to weather conditions it would be difficult to approach the travellers. After 2 hours the travellers situation were worse, already 4 people were unconscious. The shift team feared a push back as the AMBRA seemed to follow only instructions by RCC Malta. The travellers were informed about the worries of Alarm Phone and were told to take pictures if anybody will approach them. At 13:48h still no progress for the travellers was visible. Calls to RCC Malta failed regularly. The shift team called the company at 14:40h again. They informed the Alarm Phone that a vessel arrived on scene at 13:15h and released smaller boats into the water at around 13:55h. When the shift team called the travellers after that they reported that 5 people arrived in a black boat. They wear white uniforms and with them there was a translator. They tried to repair the engine. At 16:46h the AMBRA company informed that a smaller boat were towing the travellers to North, but not to the vessel. The Alarm Phone can't reach the travellers nor RCC Malta. At 17:58h the vessel AMBRA left the scene, they were released by RCC Malta. In the evening worried relatives started to call the Alarm Phone, unfortunately the shift team couldn't give them useful information. The connection to the travellers were lost. Calls to RCC Malta were unsuccessful.

On 3rd October 2020 at 11h the shift team found an article by Times of Malta. They reported about 38 people have been rescued to Malta.

Tweet Chronology

2nd October 2020

07:48h https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1311905471285153792

12:58h https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1311984008159428609

17:35h https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1312053136417226752

18:43h https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1312070043979714561

3rd October 2020

11:27h https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1312323297913298945