Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 19th of September 2015

Case name: 2015_09_19-CM45
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 3 boats in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea with 900 persons on board, all rescued
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Saturday the 19th of September 2015 Father Mussie Zerai alerted the Alarm Phone to three boats in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. The Alarm Phone had direct contact to two of them and, in the end, the Italian coastguard confirmed the rescue of all three boats. On that day, due to good weather conditions, a total of 20 boats had left the Libyan coast and prompted yet another large-scale search and rescue operation in the Central Mediterranean Sea. According to the Italian coastguard, at least 4343 travellers had been saved in more than 20 operations, involving 12 rescue vessels.

At 2am Father Mussie Zerai informed the Alarm Phone about a distress call he had received (case 1). He forwarded the satellite phone number and asked us to take care of the case. After several unsuccessful attempts we got a hold of the travellers on the phone at 2.13am. We learned that they were 500 people and had started in Zuwara/Libya some hours earlier. They also told us their GPS position, which was about 15 nautical miles / 27 kilometres north east of Zuwara. Immediately afterwards, we called the Italian coastguard and provided them with all the information we had obtained so far. By observing the maritime traffic in the Central Mediterranean Sea we realized that Médecins sans Frontières’ rescue vessel, the Bourbon Argos, was in vicinity to the boat in distress. We called the crew at 3.09am and informed them directly about the case. Nevertheless, in the following 45 minutes they did not change their position. In another phone call with Bourbon Argos at 3.55am we learned that a military vessel, presumably the German frigate ‘Schleswig Holstein’, was even closer to the boat in distress and had been advised by the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) to launch a rescue operation. In the following hours we continuously tried to get in contact with the travellers on board. But although the phone was ringing, nobody picked up. In another phone call with the crew of the Bourbon Argon in the afternoon, they confirmed to us that the military vessel had indeed rescued the boat in distress in the early morning.

At 6.23am Father Mussie Zerai alerted us to another boat in distress with 300 travellers on board and forwarded a satellite phone number (case 2). Despite several attempts we were not able to reach the travellers and thus could not obtain any information about their position. At 7.07am we called the Italian coastguard and informed about this boat. Afterwards, contact to the travellers could not be established anymore. But in a phone call at 3.34pm the Italian coastguard confirmed their rescue.

A third alert of Father Mussie Zerai reached the Alarm Phone via WhatsApp at 6.58am (case 3). A rubber boat with 100 persons on board, including pregnant women and children, was in distress north of Misrata/Libya, in the eastern part of the Central Mediterranean Sea. At 7.02am the hotline of the Italian MRCC was busy, but at 7.07am we talked to them and forwarded the GPS position and the satellite phone number of the boat in distress. At 07.48am the Italian MRCC called us back and asked for the latest position of this particular boat, as the initial one seemed to be outdated. We sent a SMS to the satellite phone, asking for the latest position, and at 8.04am the travellers called back. They gave us an update on their position, which was indeed 7.8 nautical miles / 14.5 kilometres further north east. We informed the Italian coastguard via e-mail at 8.06am and called them at 8.12am. Apparently they did not receive our e-mails, due to technical problems. At 9.03am the travellers called back, stressing the urgency of their situation. In the following four hours we were in contact with the boat in distress every 30 minutes and immediately forwarded the latest position to the coastguard by phone. At 10.30am MRCC’s person on duty asked us to urge the travellers to stop their engine, as they were constantly going further north east, while all available rescue vessel were involved in other rescue operation further west. At 11.15am they repeated this plea, stating that they had already rescued 2.100 persons on that day. Nevertheless, our attempts to convince the travellers to stop or change their direction remained unsuccessful. After having received and forwarded a last update on their position at 12.55pm, the connection to the boat broke down. Since the initial contact, they had travelled about 35 nautical miles / 65 kilometres. At 3.34pm, we called the Italian coastguard again and asked about this particular case and also about the two others we had alerted them about. In this phone call they confirmed that in the meantime all three boats were rescued and that all travellers were safe. We passed the good news on to Father Zerai.