12/11: 89 people, including nine women and four children departed from Zawiya arrived to Lampedusa

13.11.2020 / 21:50 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – November 12th 2020

Case name: 2020_11_12-CM329

Situation: 89 people rescued to Lampedusa

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Position : 34.86022, 12.64208

Summary

In the evening of November 12th Alarmphone was alerted to a boat in distress carrying 89 people including nine women and five children. At the time of the alert the people on the boat informed us they had neither food, water, no life vests on board and were urgently asking for support. We received a GPS position which we forwarded to authorities at 20.17 CET. We called authorities in Rome, who deffered us to Malta since the distress case was in their search and rescue zone. After several calls to authorities in Malta an operator confirmed the reception of our e-mail and informed us that they already knew about this case. They refused to inform us of their estimated time of arrival to the distress case. In the course of the night, people on the boat informed us their engigne had stopped working and water had started entering the boat. Our calls to authorities in Malta remained unanswered throughout the night. We received several updated GPS positions which were forwarded to authorities.

At 08.06 CET people on the boat called us again, relating that a lot of water had entered the boat, people were panicking and urgently asking for support. Upon calling authorities in Rome we were refused any information on a potentially ongoing rescue operation. Later on that day we learnt that the 89 people had been rescued and brought to Lampedusa.

Twitter Chronology

November 12th

21.08 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1326979973526282241?s=12

November 13th

08.38 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1327153754064498690
Last update: 23:08 Feb 23, 2021
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

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