At least 10 vessels in distress in the Central Med, rescue of 2 vessels confirmed so far
13.04.2015 / 14:44 / Off the coast of Libya
Ongoing Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigation – 13-14th of April 2015Case name: 2015_04_12-13-CM11
Situation: Thousands of people in distress, off the coast of Libya
Status of WTM Investigation: Ongoing
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Libya
Throughout Sunday the 12th of April, the Alarm Phone shift team obtained the satellite numbers of several vessels in distress in Libyan waters or was contacted directly by people in distress. Vessel 1 had about 500 people on board, vessel 2 again about 500 people, vessel 3 about 350 people, vessel 4-5 carrying together up to 900 people, vessel 6 with a yet unknown number of people, vessel 7 with approximately 90 people, vessel 8 had an unknown number of people on board. There were, it seems, (pregnant) women and children on most of the vessels.
The satellite phone numbers of vessels 1 and 2 were passed on to MRCC Rome as well Malta and the UNHCR. The shift team sought to reach the passengers on the boats several times, without success. The shift team spoke to people on vessel 3 several times, in order to obtain their position and further information. The connection, however, was bad and there was a lot of screaming in the background. They wanted to know how close they were from Italy and stated that they were running out of fuel. The shift team got in contact with vessel 5 but the connection was bad so that no further information could be obtained. Coordinate and satellite phone numbers of different vessels were passed on to Rome and Malta and they confirmed that they were working on all of these cases. Consistently throughout the day, the shift team sought to reach all the different vessels and pass on new information to the authorities. It was clear that a huge rescue operation was underway, including a helicopter, SAR vessels as well as merchant vessels.
In the night to Monday the 13th of April, the shift team received alarming information concerning vessel 8. People on the vessel stated that they were in a dangerous situation and that some people had jumped into the water. They also said that water was entering the vessel. These information were again passed on to Rome, Malta and the UNHCR.
In the morning of the 13th of April, the shift team received the news that boats 4-5 (that were together or near to one another), were rescued.
At around 11am, the shift team was called by another vessel in distress. The connection was bad and coordinates could not be obtained. About two hours later the shift team reached the vessel and was informed that there were two vessels (henceforth vessels 9 and 10) off the coast of Libya, carrying between 110-200 passengers. The shift team tried to obtain GPS coordinates from the passengers but was not successful. In several phone calls, the latest at 14:16h, the coordinates of the vessel were passed on to the shift team. Passengers say that there are 120 people on the boat, including 20 women and one child. They are about to run out of fuel. They left Tripoli/Libya the night before with another boat which is now missing. These information were passed on to MRCC Rome via email and phone.
Italian authorities stated that they had rescued 3791 people on Sunday alone. Including the rescue operations on Friday, a total of 5629 people were rescued this weekend. MRCC Rome confirmed to the Alarm Phone on Monday the 13th of April at about 14:28 that they were dealing with vessel 9 and had, in total, about 20 cases currently to deal with.
This report will be continuously updated.