Spanish ship told to ignore distress call
Ordered to let Libyan coast guard handle it; 16 migrants rescued, 100 missing
ABOARD THE ASTRAL ON THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA — A Spanish rescue ship patrolling the Mediterranean Sea said Friday that Italian officials told it to let the Libyan coast guard respond to a distress call from a smuggling boat carrying scores of migrants, only to hear reports shortly afterward that 100 migrants were missing and feared dead in the same area.
The account by Proactiva Open Arms came as European Union leaders in Brussels signed a deal aimed at controlling migration that steps up support for the Libyan coast guard and demands that humanitarian and other ships operating in the Mediterranean not obstruct their operations. The moves are part of efforts to stop smugglers from operating out of the lawless North African nation.
Open Arms founder Oscar Camps said such demands will cost the lives of people at sea.
“The problem is there won’t be anyone to witness this and denounce it, that is what will happen, starting now,” Camps said.
In the latest incident, the Open Arms crew intercepted a radio transmission about 8 a.m. Friday between European military officials and the Libyan coast guard giving details of a rubber boat in distress with at least 100 migrants on board, said the Open Arms head of mission, Guillermo Canardo.
But an official distress signal was only received by boats in the region on the Navtex navigation system 90 minutes later.
When Open Arms called the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Rome to offer help, officials there said the Libyan coast guard had the situation covered and that no assistance was needed.
Shortly later, they received the news that more than 100 people were missing at sea and feared dead in that same region.
“We suspect it is the same people,” Canardo said.
The Libyan coast guard said it rescued 16 migrants from the boat that capsized east of Tripoli but about 100 on board were missing at sea and feared dead. A survivor spoke of 125 people on board, including women and children.
Riccardo Gatti, captain of another Proactiva ship, the Astral, said he has witnessed tragic rescues performed by the Libyan coast guard, which lacks the most basic equipment, including life vests.
Not only has the Libyan coast guard never answered its coordination center phones when called by Proactiva, Gatti said it has more than once aggressively told Open Arms and Astral to leave in the middle of a rescue.
He said that included one incident when they shot into the air and jumped into dinghies to try to take away migrants, and another time boarding the Open Arms rescue ship with guns threatening the crew.
“For months now, [the Libyan coast guard] has been presented as an official body, formal, very well-trained and legal, and these are the same people who have shot at us, who have kidnapped us,” Gatti said. “All of this is theater.”
The Astral left Malta early Thursday with four European parliamentarians on board as observers to join Open Arms. However, the boat is unlikely to be able to return to Malta, as the EU island nation close to Libya has closed its ports to humanitarian ships as it investigates a private German rescue mission accused of violating maritime law.
Italy on Friday issued an order barring the Astral from its ports, citing public security.
The Open Arms has already been denied a request to dock in Malta to resupply, and a similar request to Italy has not been answered.
Gatti questioned the reason for his ship’s ban, noting the Astral had made no such resupply request. He said humanitarian groups are being targeted by governments for rescuing people who face dire circumstances.
“They say that we are the criminals [for the sea rescues] — but they are the criminals that let 100 people die this morning,” Gatti said.