Airborne Monthly Factsheet August 2021

Overview of boats in distress and empty boats spotted

Maltese Search-and-Rescue (SAR) zone

• 1 boat in distress, with 26 persons, was rescued by the NGO vessel Sea-Watch 3 and disembarked in Italy
• 2 boats in distress, with 115 persons, were rescued by the Italian authorities or arrived independently in Lampedusa, Italy
• The outcomes for 9 boats in distress, with around 191 persons, remain unknown
• Estimated number of persons in distress: 332

Libyan Search-and-Rescue (SAR) zone

• 4 boats in distress, with around 330 persons, were rescued by the Italian authorities or arrived independently in Lampedusa, Italy
• 1 boat in distress, with around 41 persons, was rescued by the Armed Forces of Malta and disembarked in Malta
• 6 boats in distress, with around 302 persons, were intercepted and pulled back to Libya by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard
• 1 boat in distress, with around 25 persons, was rescued by the NGO vessel Ocean Viking and disembarked in Italy
• Estimated number of persons in distress: 698

Details and outcomes of the distress cases

On 01.08., Seabird’s crew spotted 6 distress cases with a total of around 537 persons. One was rescued by the NGO vessel Sea-Watch 3 and disembarked in Italy. Three were rescued by the Italian authorities and disembarked in Italy. One was rescued by the Armed Forces of Malta and disembarked in Malta. One was intercepted by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard and pulled back to Libya.

01.08. distress case A, 26 persons: Italian military aircraft providing positions to NGOs, rescues by the civil fleet. Seabird’s crew, as well as the NGO vessels Sea-Watch 3 and Ocean Viking, were called via radio by an Italian military aircraft operated by the Guardia di Finanza, which provided them with a position. One hour later, the same military aircraft alerted both vessels about a second boat in distress. At the first given position, Seabird’s crew found 26 persons adrift in the Maltese SAR zone. The Italian military aircraft remained unresponsive to any attempts at contact from Seabird’s crew on the radio. The 26 people in distress were ultimately rescued by the NGO vessel Sea-Watch 3 and disembarked in Italy on 7th and 8th of August. At the second given position, Seabird’s crew observed the ongoing rescue operation conducted by the Ocean Viking. The people were disembarked in Italy on 8th to the 11th of August.

01.08., distress case D, 80 persons: merchant vessel unresponsive on the radio, delay in rendering assistance by the Italian authorities. Seabird’s crew spotted the persons in distress in the Libyan SAR zone. The merchant vessel Sukran S, flying the Turkish flag, was in the vicinity, but was not responding to any contact attempts from Seabird’s crew on the radio. Later, the shipping company replied to one of Sea-Watch’s emails, stating that they had attempted to reach their vessel but could not. In the evening, relatives of the people in distress called the initiative Watch the Med – Alarm Phone, providing positions of the boat in the Maltese SAR zone. On the next day, the NGO vessel Sea-Watch 3 assisted the people and stabilized the boat. The people were finally rescued by the Italian Coast Guard and disembarked in Lampedusa, more than 18 hours after Seabird’s first alert.

01.08., distress case F, around 88 persons: likely involvement of an asset from the EUNAVFOR MED Operation Irini, interception and pullback to Libya by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. The so-called Libyan Coast Guard informed Seabird’s ground crew that they had received the position of a boat in distress. Later, the people in distress called the Initiative Watch The Med – Alarm Phone, which informed the authorities and Sea-Watch’s Airborne operations. When the ground crew monitored the track of the EUNAVFOR MED aircraft Seagull on open sources, it appeared to have been at the scene of the people in distress shortly before Seabird. Seabird’s crew observed that almost all of the people were wearing life vests and that the rubber boat was deflating. The so-called Libyan Coast Guard patrol boat 648 was approaching with around 20 persons already onboard. The people were intercepted and pulled back to Libya.

05.08., distress case H, around 100 persons: merchant vessel in the vicinity not rescuing, unknown helicopter on-scene, interception and pullback by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard to Libya. Seabird’s crew spotted the people in the Libyan SAR zone. A fishing vessel, the Zarga 2, flying the Libyan flag, was in the vicinity but did not respond to any attempts at contact by Seabird over the radio. Seabird issued a mayday relay which was not responded to. Later, an unknown helicopter was also observed on-scene before leaving, as monitored by Seabird’s crew. One hour after the first mayday relay, Seabird sent a second one, and again unsuccessfully tried to reach the merchant vessel Zarga 2. In the end, the Libyan authorities confirmed to us via phone that they had intercepted the people and pulled them back to Libya.

22.08., distress case i, around 30 persons: Frontex cooperating with the so-called Libyan Coast Guard, interception and pullback to Libya. Moonbird’s crew spotted the people in the Libyan SAR zone. Frontex was on-scene shortly after. On the next day when ground crew called the Libyan authorities, they confirmed that the boat had been intercepted by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. They also informed us that they were “having a lot of information from Frontex drone” and that the Frontex drone had shared the position of the people beforehand. We must then conclude that Frontex again coordinated an interception and pullback to Libya.

22.08. distress case J, 22 persons: delay in rendering assistance by Italian authorities, NGO vessel assisting. Moonbird ’s crew spotted the people in the Libyan SAR zone. The NGO sailing boat Nadir changed course towards the boat. Meanwhile, the people in distress called the initiative Watch The Med – Alarm Phone, which immediately alerted the authorities. The Nadir found the people and assisted them, stabilizing the situation. On the next day, more than 19 hours after the first alert was sent out by Moonbird’s ground crew, the Italian authorities rescued the people and disembarked them in Italy.

On 23.08., Moonbird spotted 12 boats in distress, with around 242 persons. There was one convoy of 3 boats which was spotted in the Maltese SAR zone. One boat observed in the Libyan SAR zone was intercepted and pulled back to Libya by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. Another one was eventually rescued by the Italian authorities. One boat spotted in the Maltese SAR zone was eventually rescued by the Italian authorities as well. The outcomes regarding the other 9 boats spotted in the same area remain unknown.

23.08., distress case V, 28 persons: interception potentially avoided because of NGO presence, Frontex involved. The civilian aircraft Colibri 2 spotted the people in the Libyan SAR zone. Later, Frontex’s drone was observed on-scene by Moonbird’s ground crew. Moonbird’s crew spotted the people and informed the authorities. The so-called Libyan Coast Guard were seemingly heading towards the position of the people. The NGO vessel Nadir attended to the boat in distress, stabilizing the situation – and hence possibly managed to avoid an interception by the so-called Libya Coast Guard. In the end, the people were rescued by the Italian authorities.

27.08., distress case X, 34 persons, 5 missing: capsized boat, merchant vessels unresponsive, illegal transshipment of rescued persons to the so-called Libyan Coast Guard by a merchant vessel, pullback to Libya. Moonbird’s crew found a wooden boat that had capsized, with around 20 persons sitting on the hull and several persons with live vests in the water. The crew immediately sent out a mayday relay on the radio – where one station requested a repeat of the broadcast without stating its identity. The closest merchant vessels in the vicinity, Asso Venticinque and Asso Trenta, both flying the Italian flag, as well as the oil platform Sabratha, were unresponsive. A Turkish military aircraft informed Moonbird’s crew via radio that the Maltese RCC was informed about the situation. One and a half hours after the first sighting, a so-called Libyan Coast Guard patrol boat, already with around 150 persons on its deck, was heading to the position, and ordered the merchant vessel Asso Venticinque to proceed to the people. While the so-called Libyan Coast Guard were intercepting the people, under observation by Asso Venticinque, Moonbird’s crew noticed that many more people were still in the water. The Asso Venticinque changed course towards these people, but asked the so-called Libyan Coast Guard to take them on board. The Asso Venticinque then launched a RHIB in order to rescue 2 persons in the water, and confirmed that they would be disembarked in Italy. The so-called Libyan Coast Guard requested to take the people, for the purposes of family reunification. Via radio, the merchant vessel confirmed to us that the transshipment of the 2 rescued people would happen due to an alleged need for “medical assistance”. The vessel handed these people over to the so-called Libyan Coast Guard, despite reminders by Seabird’s crew about the illegality of this action. The Asso Venticinque informed via the radio that it was “in contact with the Italian MRCC”, likely regarding this whole operation. The so-called Libyan Coast Guard also declared via radio that the intercepted people had reported that 5 persons were still missing. The persons could not be found despite an extensive search by the Seabird’s crew. 34 persons were pulled back to Libya by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard.

A shipmaster and a representative of Asso’s shipping company, Augusta Offshore S.p.A., were recently condemned for having illegally disembarked people in Libya in 2018. According to international maritime and human rights law, Libya is not a place of safety.

During August 2021, we must assume that Frontex was involved in at least 3 distress cases. Two were intercepted by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard and pulled back to Libya. One was rescued by the Italian authorities and disembarked in Italy.

During August 2021, Moonbird’s and Seabird’s crews spotted 31 empty boats – 14 in the Libyan SAR zone and 17 in the Maltese SAR zone. One empty boat was spotted on two occasions, namely 23.08 and 24.08. One was likely rescued by the authorities and disembarked in Lampedusa. The outcomes for the 30 other empty boats remain unknown.

These missions highlight once again:

• the deadly consequences of European migration and border policies
• the systematic non-assistance of European Member States and their delegation of rescue operations to the so-called Libyan Coast Guard, even in European SAR zones
• the participation of European aircraft and Frontex in interceptions and pullbacks undertaken by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard
• the current non-assistance and involvement of merchant vessels in interceptions by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard, due to the failed migration politics in Europe
• the need for NGO vessels in the Central Mediterranean Sea in order to uphold the law and save human lives