Tonight, the Alarm Phone received a distress case from the Central Mediterranean Sea. A boat with 96 people on board, many from Eritrea, had left from Libya. When we spoke to the travellers, they confirmed that they were in an urgent distress situation and required immediate help. We are also in contact with some of their relatives who are fearing for their lives.
We passed the information on the distress case, including the GPS coordinates of the boat to the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Rome. They told us shortly after that Malta would coordinate the rescue of the boat. When we spoke to the coordination centre in Malta, however, they seemed unaware about the distress case. Later, they told us that the ‘Libyan’ authorities would take on the case. This directly contradicts the information we had received from Rome, following which Malta had taken on the case and therewith the duty to coordinate the rescue operation.
We are still trying to force both Rome and Malta to follow their duty and engage in the rescue. The battery of the satellite phone on the boat has run out, so that they do not have any possibility to reach out for help anymore.
The cynical games European politicians are playing at the moment have these catastrophic consequences.
This is a matter over life and death, and we urge the authorities to immediately take on the responsibility to coordinate a rescue operation.