01/11: 84 travellers probably arrived in Lampedusa

02.11.2020 / 18:49 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 01st November 2020

Case name: 2020_11_01-CM313

Situation: A boat that had departed from Zuwara carrying 84 travellers probably
reached Lampedusa.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: In the afternoon of Sunday the 1st of
November, the Alarm Phone was called by a boat in distress carrying
approximately 84 travellers, including 8 children, of which 3 babies,
and 14 or 15 women. The boat had departed the previous evening from Zuwara. Communication was difficult but at 15h28 CET we managed to receive the GPS position. At 16h33 our shift team alerted the Italian and Maltese coastguards via email, passing on all the information we had. As we managed to maintain contact with the travellers at 17h23 we received updated GPS coordinates which we immediately passed on to authorities. At 20h40 the travellers sent us another GPS position which was close to Lampedusa, Italy. We later passed it on to Italian and Maltese coastguards. After this, we were no longer able to establish contact with the travellers however we believe that they might have reached Lampedusa as during our last conversation they were very close to the island and we saw news on twitter reporting that many boats had arrived on the island that day.

Twitter Chronology

01/11
18:05:
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1322947984888418306

02/11
15:22:
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1323269150052175873

Last update: 09:17 Feb 15, 2021

Credibility:

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