OPERATION - 30 June-11 July 2023

21:00 Ocean Viking leaves the port of Bari, Italy.

12:00 Ocean Viking spots an empty iron boat.

In position 33 53N 014 51E

09:36 Ocean Viking is in copy of an email sent to relevant authorities by Sea Watch – Airborne alerting to a white fiber glass boat in distress (DC1084) with approx. 10 people on board without Life-Saving equipment.

Position of the boat in distress: N33 26 E013 57 at 08:54

09:49 Ocean Viking emails JRCC Tripoli, with ITMRCC, MTRCC in copy, to report the distress case previously alerted to by Sea Watch- Airborne and proceeds towards it to provide assistance.

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Laurence said not add NMA [JL1]

is there a reason?  [SC2]

I am not sure why [JL3]

09:50 Ocean Viking is in copy of an email sent to relevant authorities by Alarm Phone, alerting to a boat with approx. 250 persons on board in distress, adrift in Maltese SRR.

10:49 Ocean Viking is in copy of an email sent to relevant authorities from Sea Watch- Airborne Op about a second distress alert about a white fiberglass boat (DC1082) with approx. 30 people on board.

Position of the boat in distress: 33 18 N 013 58 E at 09:43.

11:05 Ocean Viking informs JRCC Tripoli, with ITMRCC, MTRCC in copy, of the second distress alert received and that she is proceeding towards the first distress case (DC1084), about 13 NM away.

12:10 Ocean Viking, having located the boat of the second alert received (case DC1082), assesses the following situation: the white fiberglass boat is unseaworthy, inapt for navigation on high seas, overcrowded with about 20 people on board, including women, all exposed to the elements, and no Life-Saving Appliances available. Ocean Viking informs JRCC Tripoli, with ITMRCC, MTRCC in copy, of all above information.

In Position 33 31.2N 013 52E

12:30 Ocean Viking is in copy of an email sent to relevant authorities by Sea Watch- Airborne Op alerting to a blue fishing vessel with approx. 250 persons on board, adrift in Maltese SRR. 

Position of the boat in distress: 34 21N 16 23E at 0949.

12:48 The RHIBs start the evacuation of survivors to the Ocean Viking.

12:52 Evacuation of 46 survivors onto the Ocean Viking is completed.

White fiberglass boat marked “DC1082” and left adrift.

Latitude: 33.51666
Longitude: 13.81666

13:00 Ocean Viking emails JRCC Tripoli, with ITMRCC, and MTRCC in copy, informing that Ocean Viking completed the recovery operation of the persons in distress and requests the assignment of a Place of Safety to promptly disembark all 42 survivors.

13:07 Ocean Viking informs via email JCC Tripoli, with ITMRCC, and MTRCC in copy, about the mayday relay and that Ocean Viking is proceeding towards the mayday relay position, 20 NM away.

13:34 Ocean Viking emails JRCC Tripoli, with ITMRCC and MTRCC in copy, to inform that an Aircraft called Ocean Viking on VHF CH16 about the Mayday relay.

The aircraft will be in a mayday position in less than 30 minutes. Communication was broken, Ocean Viking was not able to read full messages.

13:36 Aircraft TD 95 contacts Ocean Viking via VHF to ask confirmation of the intention to render assistance to the mayday relay call. Ocean Viking repeats the message and confirms.

14:00 Ocean Viking informs JRCC Tripoli, with ITMRCC, MTRCC in copy, that the aircraft (TD 95) called MV Ocean Viking on VHF CH16 to ask for confirmation of Ocean Viking to render assistance to the distress case, Ocean Viking replied with an affirmative ETA at 1500.

14:05 Ocean Viking receives a SAT phone call from ITMRCC with the instruction to proceed to Civitavecchia as port of disembarkation. Ocean Viking acknowledges the assignment of Civitavecchia and informs that it is replying to a distress call. ITMRCC instructs Ocean Viking to proceed towards the position reported and assess the situation. 

14:23 Ocean Viking sends an email to ITMRCC to recap the previous phone call.

14:30 Libyan Coast Guard (LYCG) Patrol vessel approaches and starts to follow Ocean Viking at a distance of 4NM.

15:04 Ocean Viking contacts LYCG on CH 16 to understand their intentions. 

Not possible to establish clear communication in English with the LYCG patrol vessel, the VHF communication has been conducted in Arabic, through a non-professional translator on board the Ocean Viking. 

Ocean Viking shares the updated coordinates of the Mayday relay and informs LYCG that instruction was received from authorities to proceed towards the distress alert. Ocean Viking understands that the LYCG patrol vessel does not object to MV Ocean Viking conducting the rescue. 

15:18 Ocean Viking has visual on the distress case.  

White fiberglass boat is adrift with about 10 people on board, no Life-Saving Appliances.

15:25 Ocean Viking emails JRCC Tripoli, ITMRCC and concerned maritime authorities, that the boat has been located and reports the assessment, confirming the distress situation. Ocean Viking also informs that, as confirmed with LYCG patrol vessel in the vicinity, rescue operation is going to be launched. 

15:26 Ocean Viking RHIBs are launched.

15:34 Small Libyan Coastal Security Vessel Number 51 arrives at high speed on scene, close to the LYCG vessel

15:35 All occupants are evacuated from the boat in distress to Ocean Viking RHIBs.

15:37 LYCG patrol vessel approaches RHIBs on their way back to the Ocean Viking and fires gunshots in the air, crossing the RHIBs bow at close range at sustainable speed.

15:47 Evacuation of survivors from RHIBs onto the Ocean Viking is completed.

distress boat left empty and adrift. Rescue position 33 55N 014 05E.

Latitude: 33.91666
Longitude: 14.08333

15:52 ITMRCC calls Ocean Viking via Sat Phone for SITREP. Ocean Viking reports the situation and the retrieval of 11 persons.

16:00 Ocean Viking emails JRCC Tripoli and ITMRCC, with MTRCC in copy, to inform that Ocean Viking completed the recovery operation of the 11 persons in distress. Ocean Viking requests a Place of Safety to promptly disembark all 57 survivors who are currently on board.

16:39 Ocean Viking receives an email from ITMRCC, requesting reconstruction of the events of the second rescue operation conducted. 

17:12 Ocean Viking emails ITMRCC and MTRCC to report that the vessel has received sat phone calls where the caller claimed to be an occupant of a boat in distress with about 250 persons on board seeking assistance, adrift in position 34 34 24 08N 016 21 34E.

The caller claimed to have received Ocean Viking telephone number from RCC Malta, which instructed them to contact Ocean Viking, as this vessel is the area. 

The caller informed that the distress boat is without water and they are asking to be rescued. 

The information above seems to indicate the subject boat may be the one referred to by Alarm Phone alert AP1018 and aircraft Seabird2 spotting. 

While informing that Ocean Viking is currently Underway to Civitavecchia port as per ITMRCC instructions, Ocean Viking seeks information and instruction in regards to the subject boat. 

Ocean Viking best ETA to the distress case can be 0200UTC on the 08^th of July. 

17:39 Ocean Viking receives an email from ITMRCC with instruction to proceed towards the reported distress in order to provide to this MRCC the necessary assessment (type of boat, number of people, buoyancy, ecc.) and inform this MRCC if there are other assets in the area.

17:54 Ocean Viking replies to ITMRCC email to acknowledge the instruction and provides her ETA.

21:30 Ocean Viking receives an email from ITMRCC informing that the SAR case (boat adrift in Maltese SRR with approx. 250 persons on board) is being handled by the competent authority MTRCC and that Ocean Viking support is no longer needed. ITMRCC instructs Ocean Viking to resume her sea passage towards Civitavecchia.

21:53 Ocean Viking replies to ITMRCC email to acknowledge the instruction and provides updated ETA to Civitavecchia.

22:40 Ocean Viking sends to ITMRCC an email with the reports and information available at that moment on the rescue operations conducted that day.

21:48 Ocean Viking sends to ITMRCC an email with the remaining reports and information on the rescue operations conducted the day before.

06:00 Ocean Viking arrives in the port of Civitavecchia, Italy

06:34 Ocean Viking starts disembarkation of survivors. 

08:10 The disembarkation of survivors is completed in the port of Civitavecchia, Italy.