18/09: Around 77 travellers returned to Libya after being taken onboard merchant vessel

19.09.2024 / 22:44 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 18th September 2024

Case name: 2024_09_18CM365

Situation: Around 77 travellers in distress in the Central Med, rescued by merchant vessel, then illegally returned to Libya.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Wednesday the 18th of September 2024, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to a group of around 77 travellers in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. They had left from Tobruk, Libya, the previous morning. They told us that they were travelling on a wooden boat and that one of their engines was no longer working. They reported that the waves around them were high. We managed to get their GPS position and immediately alerted the relevant search and rescue authorities, relaying all the information we had. We stayed in contact with the travellers who were drifting and passed on their updated positions to authorities as often as possible. In addition, we reached out to nearby merchant vessels, alerting them to the situation and reminding them of their duty to provide assistance at sea. The merchant vessel Ladybug reached the travellers and provided them food and water but was unable to take them onboard as they were carrying flammable goods. The merchant vessel Ceci was instructed by the Egyptian coastguard to rescue the travellers but carried on their journey without providing assistance. Finally, the travellers were taken onboard the Maersk vessel CL Fugou. Maersk was not willing to give us information about the operation. Online we could see that the vessel was standing still close to Libya, which is not considered a port of safely, instead of taking the travellers either to Crete, which would be the nearest port or Cyprus which was the destination for the merchant vessel. We learned that the Greek authorities denied them disembarkation in Cyprus. Later, we learned from authorities and relatives that the travellers had been returned to Libya.

Tweets about the case:

https://x.com/alarm_phone/status/1836296965501374878?s=09

https://x.com/alarm_phone/status/1836440208528511486

https://x.com/alarm_phone/status/1836654281903993294?t=56m2cosBBAgwin4bsAv8oQ&amp

https://x.com/alarm_phone/status/1836828426751156642

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