In the evening of the 9th of August 2026 the Alarm Phone hotline was alerted to a fibreglass boat which departed from Libya the evening before. According to family members, on the boat there were 18 people from Bangladesh, Egypt, Kurdistan and Somalia. 17 men and a 13/14 year old boy. They departed from western Lybia towards Lampedusa.
The same night, NGO vessel Solidaire went to the last known position but could not find the boat, even after searching the bigger area. Despite trying innumerable times, Alarm Phone was never able to reach the group on their satellite phone. The Lybian authorities had no information about an interception of this boat.
In the evening of the 11th of August we closed the case as unclear.
Position of boat at 19:00 CEST on 8 August 2026. Screenshot taken by Alarm Phone.
Timeline
09 August 2026
19:25 Alarm Phone receives information about the boat in distress from a relative, saying the group departed Libya on the 8th of August, and that their engine broke down. The relative shares the Thuraya satellite phone number of the group (0088216XXX008) and position from the evening before:
34°14’54.0 N, 12°33’22.7 E @ 19:00 CEST 8 AUG 26
20:21 We send and alert Mail to the Italian and Maltese authorities, the so-called Libyan Coast Guard and the NGOs at sea in that moment (Ocean Viking and Solidaire) to inform about the boat.
According to our information no boat arrived in Lampedusa that matches this group.
21:58 We call authorities in Lybia to ask about any interception on that day. They have no information about a matching boat.
22:06 We receive a mail from Solidaire, they are at the last known position and found nothing. They abandon the search because the position is old and there is no chance to find the group in the dark.
Search Pattern of the NGO Ship Solidaire on 9 August 2026 around the GPS Position. Source: Vesselfinder
10 August 2026
We keep calling the satellite phone of the boat every hour but the phone is off.
20:01 We call the lybian authorities. They say the have not found a boat that matches coordinations and number of people.
23:05 We have another call with Lybian authorites. There was a interception at 33 43 N, 012 03 E. We get no information about any nationalities. On the 11. August we could confirm that this interception belonged to another boat and not this one.
11 August 2026
We keep calling the satellite phone of the boat every hour but the phone is off.
14:20 We call the lybian authorities again. They don’t have any information on the boat we are searching.
16:40 As we don’t have any news and also the contact persons did not hear from the boat, we decide to close the case as unclear.
