<b>Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – November 14th 2020</b> <i>Case name</i>: 2020_11_14_CM331 <i>Situation</i>: 77 people intercepted by the so called Libyan coast guard, returned to Libya; 12 people arrived safely to Lampedusa <i>Status of WTM Investigation</i>: Concluded <i>Place of Incident</i>: Central Mediterranean Position Case 1: 33.98240, 13.75080 Position Case 2: 34.43333, 12.75000 <i>Summary</i> On November 14th Alarmphone was alerted to two distress cases. One boat carrying 77 people was intercepted to Libya by the so called Libyan coast guard. A second boat carrying 12 people managed to reach Lampedusa. <i>Summary Case 1 </i> In the morning of November 14th Alarmphone was alerted to a boat in distress carrying around 80people including four women, seven children and four elderly, handicapped persons. At the time of the alert people on the boat were highly agitated and informed us that water was entering their boat; there was no water, food or life vests on board. Communication was difficult; according to the people on board they had been at sea for three days. We managed to receive a GPS position which was forwarded to authorities at 09.23 CET. We tried to contact the so called Libyan coast guard who denied the reception of our e-mail and were unable to relate a working e-mail address to us. When we called authorities in Rome they refused all responsibility for this distress case and told us to “alert the competent authorities”. We repeatedly tried to call the so called Libyan coast guard; our calls remained unanswered. At 11.44 CET and 15.42 CET we received an updated GPS position which was forwarded to authorities and people on the boat informed us they were drifting and a lot of people were dehydrated. At 16.07 CET we managed to reach an operator of the so called Libyan coast guard, who related they had instructed a Libyan vessel to head to the distress case an hour ago. Upon calling the so called Libyan coast guard at 18.05 CET we were informed that 77 people had been intercepted, the description of the boat matching this case and were being brought back to Libya, the very place from which the people had been trying to escape. Twitter Chronology: November 14th 10.55 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1327550727636578304 November 15th 10.56 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1327913394586914816 <i>Summary Case 2 </i> In the evening of November 14th Alarmphone received a distress call from a boat carrying 12 people including two women and four children. At the time of the alert the sea was rough and a lot of water had entered the boat. According to the caller the boat had almost run out of fuel and phone battery; there were no life vests on board. We received a GPS position and forwarded it to authorities at 20.57 CET. We continued to receive updated GPS positions which we forwarded to authorities. At 21.45 CET the people in distress informed us they had seen a large ship pass by them ten minutes ago without offering assistance. This was the last call from the people on the boat, after which we lost contact. At 08.21 CET we called authorities in Rome who confirmed the save arrival of the boat to Lampedusa. Twitter Chronology: November 14th 23.32 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1327740803054252040

This post was originally published on Watch the Med.