Update Aurora Rescue: Authorities Knew of Distress Case for 12 Hours – 2 Dead, 6 Missing

In the early hours of 29 September 2026, the crew of the Sea-Watch rescue vessel Aurora rescued 28 people following a shipwreck in international waters. The crew also recovered the bodies of two people, including a child. Five survivors were found aboard an almost completely deflated rubber boat, while another 23 had managed to reach the Hasdrubal gas platform in international waters. At least six people remain missing, including three children from one family. The Aurora crew disembarked all survivors and the two bodies on the Italian island of Lampedusa later that same day.
The Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre had already been alerted to the distress case by the emergency hotline Alarm Phone 12 hours before the shipwreck survivors were rescued. Sea-Watch has also obtained strong indications that the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex flew over the distress case with its Eagle6 aircraft on the evening of 28 September. If this information is confirmed, this would amount to a deliberate failure to render assistance.

Reconstruction of Events
Note: All times are in UTC.

28 September 2026
14:42 UTC The emergency hotline Alarm Phone alerts the Italian, Maltese and Libyan maritime rescue coordination centres to a boat in distress carrying approximately 40 people in the overlapping Libyan and Tunisian search and rescue regions. The reported position is 33° 34’ N, 011° 45’ E. Alarm Phone states: “Water is entering the boat and there is a risk that it will sink.”

17:58 UTC The Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Rome issues INMARSAT SAR case 1771 on behalf of the “Libyan Navy Coast Guard”, providing coordinates for a distress case recorded at 16:03 UTC. The source of these coordinates remains unclear. Based on several indications, including the boat’s estimated speed, Sea-Watch believes that this may be the same boat in distress as the one reported by Alarm Phone.
18:50 UTC The Frontex aircraft Eagle6 circles in the vicinity of the coordinates of the distress case reported by Alarm Phone, not far from the position published by Italy for INMARSAT case 1771.
22:44 UTC The emergency hotline Alarm Phone sends another email to state authorities with updated coordinates: 34° 06’ N, 001° 39’ E. At 23:00 UTC, Alarm Phone corrects the coordinates to 34° 06’ N, 011° 39’ E.
23:07 UTC The Sea-Watch rescue vessel Aurora informs the Italian, Maltese, Libyan, Tunisian and German authorities that the Sea-Watch rescue crew intends to  search for the people in distress reported by Alarm Phone and is heading towards their reported position.

29 September 2026
02:11 UTC The Sea-Watch rescue vessel Aurora sights the boat, which has by then been shipwrecked, with five people and two bodies on board, including the body of a child.
02:19 UTC The Aurora crew launches its small rescue boat to rescue all survivors.
02:42 UTC Aurora informs the Italian, Maltese, Libyan, Tunisian and German authorities about the shipwreck, the completed rescue of 5 survivors and reports 2 deceased persons. According to the survivors, additional people are on the Hasdrubal gas platform.
03:42 UTC The Aurora crew recovers both bodies of the deceased persons.
04:20 UTC Aurora reaches the unmanned Hasdrubal platform.
04:34 UTC Aurora receives authorization from the Tunisian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre via phone to rescue the 23 people on the Hasdrubal gas platform.
04:41 UTC Aurora informs the Italian, Maltese, Libyan and German authorities about its search for the survivors on the Hasdrubal platform and about the Tunisian authorization to carry out the rescue.
05:50 UTC MRCC Rome updates the position of INMARSAT SAR case 1771. It continues to describe the case as involving an inflatable boat carrying more than 15 people, but provides the coordinates contained in Alarm Phone’s email from 23:00 UTC the previous evening. MRCC Rome states that the position corresponds to 22:04 UTC.
05:46 UTC Aurora completes the transfer of all 23 survivors from the Hasdrubal platform to the Aurora.
05:55 UTC The small rescue boat is recovered and all crew on board the Aurora again.
06:47 UTC All relevant authorities are informed that the rescue operation has been completed, and a place of safety is requested.
07:24 UTC The Aurora crew informs all relevant authorities via E-Mail about at least one woman and two children missing. 

09:31 UTC The Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre assigns Lampedusa as the port of disembarkation for all survivors and both bodies.
16:20 UTC All 28 survivors and both bodies are disembarked on Lampedusa.

30 September 2026
Sea-Watch submits a request for access to documents to Frontex, requesting the disclosure of all documents relating to the distress case.