Details were slow to emerge on one of the latest large-scale tragedies in the Mediterranean, as the incident took place over the Christmas holiday period. It is now confirmed that a deadly shipwreck off the coast of Tunisia cost 116 lives on December 19.
The sole survivor of the tragedy was rescued by a Tunisian fisherman. As details emerge, several NGOs have wondered whether this tragedy could have been prevented.
The Alarm Phone NGO received a distress call on December 19 and reached out to all its partners, including the governments of Libya, Tunisia and Italy.
"We alerted the relevant coast guards and NGOs, despite not having a GPS position. Throughout the day, we continued trying to reach the boat via satellite phone, but once again without success," Alarm Phone said.
The private sea rescue organization Sea-Watch immediately sent its drone aircraft, the Seabird, to establish the location of the reported shipwreck, while officials working for various coast guards were reportedly slow to react at all to the developments.
"When we contacted the Italian Coast Guard, they confirmed receipt of our email but immediately ended the call without providing any further information or reassurance," Alarm Phone said, adding that the Libyan Coast Guard "told us by phone that they had neither rescued nor intercepted any vessel on December 18 or 19."
One survivor out or 117 passengers
On the evening of December 21, the Alarm Phone said it "received information that Tunisian fishermen had found a single survivor on a wooden boat. The man reportedly stated that he had departed from Zuwara two days earlier and that he was the only survivor."
It later emerged that the boat that had departed from Zuwara in Libya on the evening of December 18 with a total of 117 people on board, according to the sole survivor's testimony of the event.
He added that just a few hours after departure, the weather conditions at sea had deteriorated drastically, with winds reaching 40 kilometers per hour.