30/03: 58 people started in Zawiya, Libya, and were rescued close to Lampedusa

31.03.2021 / 10:28 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 30th March 2021

Case name: 2021_03_30-CM398

Situation: 58 people close to Lampedusa get rescued by a white/orange boat, after water was entering their boat

Status of WTM Investigation: concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case:

In the afternoon of March 30th, we were called by a satellite phone of a boat with 58 people, including 8 women and 6 children. They told us, that they have left from Zawiya about two days ago and didn’t have any food, water or life jackets on board and there was water entering the boat. The women tried to use empty bottles to remove the water from the boat, but it was very challenging and everyone was extremely tired from the long and exhausting journey.

We informed authorities via E-Mail at 18:25h CEST and told them the GPS-position of the boat, which was about 8km from the Italian Search and Rescue Zone. Neither MRCC Rome nor RCC Malta responded to our alert. The people on board called us again, asking for help and rescue. At 19:35h CEST we sent another E-Mail with an updated GPS-position and inform the authorities about the people in urgent need for rescue.

At 20:23h CEST the people on board called us again and told us, that a white/orange boat came for their rescue and took them on board. But they didn’t know where they would take them. Shortly after, the line broke and we were not able to reach them any more. We stand in solidarity with them and assume they disembarked safely.

Last update: 20:30 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