01/04: 100 people coming from Libya, probably arrived on Lampedusa

02.04.2021 / 09:34 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 1st of April 2021

Case name: 2021_04_01-CM400

Situation: 100 people departed from Libya and called Alarm Phone, contact was lost very soon, we have vague information that they arrived in Lampedusa

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:

At 13:27h CEST on 1st of April 2021 the Alarm Phone hotline got called by a distress case. 100 people, among them 16 women and 4 to 5 children, informed us that water is entering the boat. They left from Libya and transferred a GPS position to us. This remained the only contact we had to the travellers. We emailed the information to Malta and Italy at 15:29h CEST. When we later called MRCC Rome, they felt not responsible as the people were in Maltese Search and Rescue zone. We tweeted about the non-assistance of RCC Malta, which we reached surprisingly by phone but confirmed nothing to us.

Later that day the aircraft of Pilote Volontaire informed us that they sighted several boats and one arrived in Lampedusa. This is our only vague confirmation as we never reached the people again although we tried it until the evening of 2nd April.

Twitter chronology

1st April 2021 15:45h https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1377618109851402244

Last update: 20:36 Aug 28, 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