Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 21st of October 2020

Case name: 20201021-CM310
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 16 people leaving Tunisia who arrived to Lampedusa on their own.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Cases:
On Wednesday the 21st of October at 01.30 CET, the Alarm Phone shift team was called by a relative alerting us to a boat in the Central Mediterrranean sea. The travellers had left on the 19th of October at 22.00 from Skihra, Tunisia. The relative had lost contact to the boat at 15.00, and informed us that at this time the travellers were not doing well. We were informed that they were around 16 people on the boat, including a woman and two children. During our talk with the relative, they broke down crying, as their son was on the boat and they are of course very worried. At the last contact the travellers were between Kerkennah Islands and Lampedusa. The relative told us, however, that the boat was moving very slowly, as it was loaded with passengers beyond its capacity. At 02.21 we called the Italian coastguard and passed on the information we had. However, the Italian coastguard only told us to call the Tunisian coastguard. We tried contacting the Tunisian coastguard, but did not manage to reach them. During the night we stayed in touch with several relatives of the travellers, and tried to reach the travellers without success. Only at 9.30 the following morning did we reach the Tunisian coastguard, who immediately hung up on us. We therefore sent an email, passing on the information we had. At the same time, the Italian coastguard refused to tell us whether they had any new information regarding the case.
Finally, at 12.00 we reached the travellers directly. They told us that they were all alright, and could see Lampedusa. At 14.42 the relative informed us that the travellers had landed safely on Lampedusa.