Alarm Phone fears that yet another shipwreck occurred on the night of December 19th”. This is how a statement from the NGO begins, according to which at 2pm on December 19th, Alarm Phone was informed of a boat that left Zuwara on the evening of December 18th, with 117 people on board.
Alarm Phone claims to have repeatedly attempted to contact the vessel via satellite phone, without success. “We alerted the coast guard and the competent NGOs, despite not having a GPS position. Throughout the day we continued to try to contact the boat via satellite telephone, but once again without success.” “When we contacted the Italian Coast Guard, they confirmed that they had received our email, but they immediately interrupted the call without providing further information or reassurances”, continues the organization claiming that the Libyan Coast Guard “told us by telephone that they had not rescued or intercepted any vessel on the 18th or 19th December”.
Two days later, on the evening of December 21st, the NGO says, “we received information that some Tunisian fishermen had found a single survivor on a wooden boat. The man declared that he had left Zuwara two days earlier and that he was the only survivor”. According to his testimony, only a few hours after departure the weather conditions worsened dramatically, with winds reaching 40 km/h. “Alarm Phone has tried to verify this information – concludes the NGO – but has not yet managed to completely confirm it”.
“116 people lost their lives in yet another shipwreck in 2025. The only survivor was saved by a Tunisian fisherman. They left last Thursday, and on Monday we searched for them with Seabird. Today Alarm Phone confirms the shipwreck, which occurred shortly after departure”. He writes this on
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