Report by SOS Mediterranee and Alarm Phone, 27th of June, 2025
On the morning of Saturday, May 24, civil network Alarm Phone alerted authorities to two overcrowded wooden boats in distress in the Libyan Search and Rescue Region (SRR). Both had departed from Sabratha two nights earlier and were each carrying more than 100 people in urgent need of assistance. Only one boat received a coordinated response: the 128 survivors were rescued by the Italian Coast Guard and disembarked in Lampedusa on Sunday, May 25. For the second boat, no rescue was launched, despite repeated alerts, worsening weather conditions, and the clear situation of distress. At the time of the alert, the Ocean Viking, a humanitarian rescue ship run by SOS MEDITERRANEE, was more than 36 hours from the distress case. A merchant vessel, MV Bobic, flying the Marshall Islands flag, found the second boat on Saturday evening after being alerted by Alarm Phone. Lacking adequate rescue equipment and without guidance from maritime authorities – despite desperate calls for assistance – the ship’s Captain attempted to rescue the shipwrecked persons. Multiple people fell into the sea, one disappeared; 35 survivors were taken onboard before contact with the distress boat was lost. MV Bobic issued a Mayday Relay, and the Captain and his crew spent hours seeking support and instructions from the responsible authorities to no avail.
Despite the Flag State’s and Captain’s expressed concerns that disembarking survivors in Libya would violate international law, the Captain’s wish to disembark people in Lampedusa, and a first instruction from the Libyan Rescue Coordination Center that survivors should be transshipped to the Ocean Viking, the 35 rescued individuals were ultimately disembarked and sent to detention in Libya under an unclear chain of command – marking a grave breach of maritime obligations.
Meanwhile, civil society organizations Alarm Phone and SOS MEDITERRANEE spent the night trying to offer remote support to the Captain of MV Bobic and his crew, while attempting to initiate a search for the missing boat. Alarm Phone finally reestablished contact with 79 remaining survivors early Sunday morning. Merchant vessel MV Eco One rescued 26 people Sunday evening, and, according to survivor testimonies, two people went missing during this second rescue attempt. Ocean Viking completed the rescue of the remaining 53 survivors. MV Eco One disembarked in Lampedusa, the Ocean Viking was ordered to Livorno, further separating the shipwrecked people between different ports and unnecessarily prolonging their time at sea.
Five survivors were medically evacuated from the Ocean Viking to Lampedusa on Monday, and Palermo’s Juvenile Court ordered the disembarkation of minors in a closer port. 33 children and two adult family members disembarked in Sicily on Tuesday, May 27. Despite their medical conditions, which were reported to the authorities, 13 survivors were forced to endure two and a half additional days of sailing to Livorno.
What the individuals in distress endured is not an isolated incident, but a stark illustration of the arbitrariness and systemic neglect that defines maritime coordination in the Central Mediterranean today. This manufactured state of chaos is a direct consequence of EU migration policies that prioritize deterrence over the legal and moral imperative to save lives…
The distress boat during the first assessment from the Ocean Viking’s fast rescue boats. Source: Fellipe Lopes / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Full report, subsequent demands, and timeline:
https://www.sosmediterranee.org/press-release-deadly-failure-of-duty/
