27/03: 36 travellers rescued by Open Arms

28.03.2021 / 11:29 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 27th March 2021

Case name: 2021_03_27-CM387
Situation: 36 travellers departed from Tripoli, Libya and were rescued by Open Arms
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: In the morning of Saturday the 27th of March the Alarm Phone was called by a boat in distress carrying approximately 30 travellers. Connection was bad and the travellers were panicking, therefore it took us some to time to understand that they had departed from Tripoli, that there were 10 women and 16 children on board and that they had no more drinking water on board. At 07:20h CET we received their GPS position which was in Maltese Search and Rescue (SAR) zone. At 08:14h our shift team alerted the authorities passing on all the information we had. In our alert email we also included the NGO rescue boat Open Arms as well as the NGO search aircrafts Colibri and Moonbird. As the boat in distress was in Maltese SAR we tried to call the Maltese coastguard several times, however our calls remained unanswered. We therefore reached the Italian coastguard whom however refused to take responsibility. At 09:15h we were informed that the NGO aircraft Colibri had spotted the boat, they confirmed that the travellers were in need of urgent assistance. Soon after our shift team managed to speak to the travellers who confirmed that they had seen the aircraft. At 09:30h we published the first of a series of tweets informing about the
situation. At 09:39 our shift team sent a follow up email to authorities confirming that the boat spotted by Colibri was our same
case. We continued to keep contact with the travellers who were very scared, we tried to encourage them to stay calm. At 11:43h the NGO
boat Open Arms informed us and authorities that they had reached the boat and were handing out life jackets. They confirmed that there
where 36 people on board including 15 children and 7 women. At 15:48h Open Arms confirmed that after having unsuccessfully attempted to contact the Maltese Coastguard several times, they had preceded with the rescue operation. All the travellers have been fortunately rescued by Open Arms.

Twitter Chronology

27.03

09:30
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1375727025051295744
16:59
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1375839906073866246

Last update: 14:40 Aug 22, 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