Boat with 500 people in Malta’s SAR zone towed back to Libya, NGOs say

A large boat with around 500 people that was in distress in Malta's Search and Rescue (SAR), has been seized and taken back to Libya by the Libyan authorities, a number of NGOs reported on Monday.

In a joint statement by NGOs, Alarm Phone, Sea-Watch, Mediterranea Saving Humans and EMERGENCY, they accused Malta’s Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) of coordinating an “illegal” pushback with the Libyan Authorities.

According to the NGOs the boat had been towed back – over 330km – to the Libyan port of Benghazi. They also reported that relatives had said that the 500 people were locked up in prison, in Benghazi.

Last week Alarm Phone had reported that it received reports saying that the boat had fled from Libya several days ago, but that now their engine has stopped. It added that it has informed the authorities, and it said that “rescue efforts are needed urgently and without delay!”

This newsroom has sent questions to the Home Affairs Ministry and the Armed Forces of Malta asking for updates on this case, and further sent follow up emails on Friday, however there was no response.

The NGOs statement said that on 24 May Sea-Watch’s aircraft, Seabird 2, had arrived in the area of the last known position and had searched for the boat in distress, but the crew was unable to find the vessel.

“In the night from 24 to 25 May,

Life support of the NGO EMERGENCY and other vessels of the civil fleet reached the area and started searching for the disappeared boat during the whole day. No state asset helped in the search. Instead, authorities kept silent about the fate of the group. Also the aircraft Seabird 2 searched again for the missing boat on 25 May, even covering a larger area than the day before. The capacities of the NGO ships could have been utilized to save lives, rather than wasting them on a search that was already known to be futile.”

This newsroom has now sent follow-up questions asking whether Malta’s RCC had coordinated with the Libyan Authorities to send these people back to Libya.