22/06: 40 people coming from Libya in distress, rescued to Malta

23.06.2019 / 10:02 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 22nd of June 2019

Case name: 2019_06_22-CM170

Situation: 40 people rescued to Malta

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On June 22nd, at 11:20pm CEST, the Alarm Phone received a call from a boat in distress carrying 40 people, only men. They had been on sea for 21 hours already and they didn’t have drinking water any more The people started to be very tired and reported that water was entering the boat. 10 minutes later our shift team received the first GPS position which was clearly in Maltese waters. At 11 :33pm we informed RCC Malta about the distress case. We remained in contact with the people and at 1.07am, RCC Malta sent us an email confirming that they would send an asset to rescue the people in distress.
As the boat was still moving we received updated GPS positions until 2.47am which we provided to RCC Malta. Around this time the travellers informed us that they saw a cargo vessel nearby which could also be proofed by trachking websites, but no rescue was launched. The whole night our shift team held contact to the people who repeatedly asked for help and when somebody would arrive to rescue them.
Around 7am the travellers told us that they could see a helicopter, then we lost contact to the travellers.
At 8.33am, nearly 8 hours after Malta had confirmed to us to send a rescue asset, we got the information from the authorities that they rescued the boat.

Last update: 18:05 Aug 08, 2019

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