Ghost boat investigation: Difference between revisions

Ghost boat disappearance
Date	2014
Location	Mediterranean Sea
Participants	Group of 243 people
Outcome	All missing
Missing	243

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The ghost boat investigations are a project looking into a group of at least 243 refugees who disappeared in the summer of 2014.^[1] None of the missing people have contacted their family members, and there are no bodies found or wreckage of any kind. One theory is that a people smuggling boat off the coast of Libya, intending to sail to Italy, disappeared without trace.^[2] A lack of wreckage is highly unusual for such a large watercraft.^[3] Reporter Eric Reidy has been investigating the case by blogging and using crowd sourcing.^[4]^[5] Bobbie Johnson, a senior editor at Medium, took Reidy's articles and created the ghost boat project to help track the missing group of "ghost boat" refugees.^[1] As of December 2015^[update], no trace of the passengers has been found.

Background

The 243 people in the group who were to leave Libya paid $1600 to get to Europe.^[6] Measho Tesfamariam arranged the trip and "handled communication, logistics, and payment for the big smugglers".^[7] There were three other individuals who helped fill the boat: Ibrahim, Jamal el-Saoudi, and Jaber, all of whom have Sudanese passports (although Jamal is Eritrean).^[8] Ibrahim was in charge of arranging the trip and the passengers and families' contact.^[7] Measho Tesfamariam says that the boat was due to depart from the Libyan Khums (Al-Khums) beach, but he didn't witness the departure.^[8] Tesfamariam was arrested on December 2, 2014 on people-smuggling charges.^[7] Meanwhile, Eritrean Jamal el-Saoudi, who was the manager of the Tokhla group smuggling operation that arranged the ghost boat group's journey, lives in Libya where he is a well-connected man.^[7]

Most of the passengers were Eritreans fleeing the highly repressive military regime that rules the country.^[2]^[9] At the time, around 5,000 Eritreans fled the country every month.^[9]

Investigation

Experts say that such a large boat sinking would have left some trace.^[2] “It’s really strange,” says Othman Belbeisi, who is the International Organization for Migration’s country director for Libya.^[2] Refugee advocate and migration expert Fausto Melluso, with the Italian organization Arci in Sicily, said, “It is inconceivable that a boat with that many people can go missing in 2014 and nobody know about it.” Alganesh Fisseha, an Eritrean political activist who fled the country herself, is an expert on refugee issues. She said that it was the "first time she has heard of such a large group of people going missing without a trace. ... 'It is impossible that they disappeared into thin air.'”^[4] During the Lampedusa migrant shipwreck on October 12, 2013, more than 360 deaths were reported, with just 155 survivors. In that case, bodies were spread out over the ocean.

Eric Reidy had been working as a reporter in Tunisia when he heard that refugee activist Meron Estefanos was investigating reports surrounding the ghost boat. She was looking into a mysterious phone call to relatives of those on the ghost boat that the passengers were detained in a Tunisian prison.^[10] However, further digging revealed that the phone calls turned out to be a false lead.^[10]

Bibliography

Notes

^ ^a ^b Owen 2015
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Reidy 2015
^ Johnson 2015
^ ^a ^b Reidy 2015b
^ Campbell 2015
^ Gatti 2014b
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Reidy 2015c
^ ^a ^b Gatti 2014
^ ^a ^b Simon 2015
^ ^a ^b Reidy 2015a

References

Campbell, Zach (Nov 11, 2015). "How Matter crowdsourced the migration story". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
Gatti, Fabrizio (Oct 23, 2014b). "Chi è l'uomo della strage dei profughi" (in Italian). L'espresso. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
Gatti, Fabrizio (Nov 7, 2014). "Missing boat case, Measho Tesfamariam: only God knows what happened". L'espresso. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
Johnson, Bobbie (November 13, 2015). "Ghost Boat: A Primer". medium.com. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
Owen, Laura Hazard (Oct 7, 2015). "243 people disappeared on a ship in the Mediterranean; a new project from Medium aims to find them". Nieman Foundation for Journalism. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
Reidy, Eric (Oct 7, 2015). "243 People Disappeared. Young People. Women. Children. And No One Cares". medium.com. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
Reidy, Eric (Oct 29, 2015a). "Now I Have Learned That There's a Worse Thing Than Death". medium.com. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
Reidy, Eric (Nov 5, 2015b). "At First The Traffickers Were More Human. Then Slowly They Started The Torture". medium.com. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
Reidy, Eric (Nov 12, 2015c). "Someone Is Making Up Lies". medium.com. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
Simon, Scott (2015). "In Search Of A Ghost Boat And The 243 On Board". NPR. Retrieved December 7, 2015.

[Owen_p.-1] Owen 2015

[Reidy_p.-2] Reidy 2015

[Johnson_p.-3] Johnson 2015

[ReidyB_p.-4] Reidy 2015b

[Campbell_p.-5] Campbell 2015

[Gatti_Oct-6] Gatti 2014b

[ReidyC_p.-7] Reidy 2015c

[Gatti_p.-8] Gatti 2014

[Simon_p.-9] Simon 2015

[ReidyA_p.-10] Reidy 2015a

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|Investigation into missing migrant boat}}
-{{distinguish2|[[Ghostboat]] which is a 2006 British television film}}
+{{Multiple issues|
+{{Unreliable sources|date=January 2016}}
+{{Tone|date=February 2021}}
+{{Update|date=February 2021}}
+}}
 {{Infobox event
-| title = Ghost Boat Disappearance
+| title = Ghost boat disappearance
 | native_name =
 | native_name_lang =
 | image =
 | caption                  =
-| date                     =  June 28th or June 29th, 2014
+| date                     =  2014
 | time                     =
 | place                    =  [[Mediterranean Sea]]
@@ Line 14: / Line 19: @@
 | first reporter           =
 | filmed by                =
-| participants             = at least 243 people on the boat
+| participants             = Group of 243 people
-| outcome                  =
+| outcome                  = All missing
-| reported deaths          = 243 (all, presumed)
+| reported deaths          =
-| blank1_label             =
-| blank1_data              =
 | reported injuries        =
-| reported missing         =
+| reported missing         = 243
-| reported property damage =
-| burial                   =
 | inquiries                =
-| inquest                  =
-| coroner                  =
-| suspects                 =
-| accused                  =
-| convicted                =
-| charges                  =
-| verdict                  =
-| convictions              =
-| publication bans         =
-| litigation               =
-| blank_label              = On board
-| blank_data               = 243
 | website                  =
 | notes                    =
 }}
-The '''Ghost boat investigation''' is a project looking into a group of at least 243 refugees who disappeared with out a trace in the summer of 2014, the missing group involves more people than the famous 239 passengers who disappeared on [[Malaysia Airlines Flight 370]].<ref name= "Owen p. ">{{harvnb|Owen|2015|p=}}</ref>  None of the missing people have contacted their family members and there have been no bodies found, or wreckage of any kind. One theory is that a people smuggling boat off the coast of Libya, intending to sail to Italy, disappeared without trace.<ref name= "Reidy p. ">{{harvnb|Reidy|2015|p=}}</ref> A lack of wreckage is highly unusual for such a large water craft.<ref name= "Johnson p. ">{{harvnb|Johnson|2015|p=}}</ref> Reporter Eric Reidy has been investigating the case by blogging and using crowd sourcing.<ref name= "ReidyB p. ">{{harvnb|Reidy|2015B|p=}}</ref><ref name= "Campbell p. ">{{harvnb|Campbell|2015|p=}}</ref> Bobbie Johnson, a senior editor at Medium, took Reidy's articles and created the Ghost Boat project to help track the missing group of "Ghost boat" refugees.<ref name= "Owen p. "/> As of December 2015 no trace of the passengers has been found.
+The '''ghost boat investigations''' are a project looking into a group of at least 243 refugees who disappeared in the summer of 2014.<ref name= "Owen p. ">{{harvnb|Owen|2015|p=}}</ref> None of the missing people have contacted their family members, and there are no bodies found or wreckage of any kind. One theory is that a people smuggling boat off the coast of [[Libya]], intending to sail to [[Italy]], disappeared without trace.<ref name= "Reidy p. ">{{harvnb|Reidy|2015|p=}}</ref> A lack of wreckage is highly unusual for such a large watercraft.<ref name= "Johnson p. ">{{harvnb|Johnson|2015|p=}}</ref> Reporter Eric Reidy has been investigating the case by blogging and using [[Crowdsourcing|crowd sourcing]].<ref name= "ReidyB p. ">{{harvnb|Reidy|2015b|p=}}</ref><ref name= "Campbell p. ">{{harvnb|Campbell|2015|p=}}</ref> Bobbie Johnson, a senior editor at [[Medium (website)|Medium]], took Reidy's articles and created the ghost boat project to help track the missing group of "ghost boat" refugees.<ref name= "Owen p. "/> {{As of|December 2015}}, no trace of the passengers has been found.
+==Background==
-==The boat, the smugglers, the passengers==
-Measho Tesfamariam arranged the trip and "handled communication, logistics, and payment for the big smugglers".<ref name= "ReidyC p. ">{{harvnb|Reidy|2015C|p=}}</ref> There were there other individuals who helped fill the boat Ibrahim, an Eritrean Jamal, and Jaber all of which have Sudanese passports.<ref name= "Gatti p. ">{{harvnb|Gatti|2014|p=}}</ref> Measho Tesfamariam says that the boat was due to depart from the Libyan Khums (Al-Khums) beach on July 7 2014, but he didn't witness the departure.<ref name= "Gatti p. "/> Tesfamariam was arrested on December 2, 2014 on people-smuggling charges.<ref name= "ReidyC p. " /> The manager of the smuggling operation that arranged the ghost boat's journey, the Tokhla group, was Eritrean Jamal el-Saoudi, a well connected man in Libya.<ref name= "ReidyC p. " /> Another man, Ibrahim, was in charge of arranging the trip and the passengers and families' contact.<ref name= "ReidyC p. " />
+The 243 people in the group who were to leave Libya paid $1600 to get to Europe.<ref name= "Gatti Oct">{{harvnb|Gatti|2014b|p=}}</ref> Measho Tesfamariam arranged the trip and "handled communication, logistics, and payment for the big smugglers".<ref name= "ReidyC p. ">{{harvnb|Reidy|2015c|p=}}</ref> There were three other individuals who helped fill the boat: Ibrahim, Jamal el-Saoudi, and Jaber, all of whom have [[Sudan|Sudanese]] passports (although Jamal is Eritrean).<ref name= "Gatti p. ">{{harvnb|Gatti|2014|p=}}</ref> Ibrahim was in charge of arranging the trip and the passengers and families' contact.<ref name= "ReidyC p. " /> Measho Tesfamariam says that the boat was due to depart from the Libyan Khums (Al-Khums) beach, but he didn't witness the departure.<ref name= "Gatti p. "/> Tesfamariam was arrested on December 2, 2014 on [[People smuggling|people-smuggling]] charges.<ref name= "ReidyC p. " />  Meanwhile, Eritrean Jamal el-Saoudi, who was the manager of the Tokhla group smuggling operation that arranged the ghost boat group's journey, lives in Libya where he is a well-connected man.<ref name= "ReidyC p. " />
-Most of the passengers were Eritreans fleeing the incredibly repressive military regime that rules the country.<ref name= "Reidy p. "/><ref name= "Simon p. ">{{harvnb|Simon|2015|p=}}</ref> 5,000 Eritrean flee the country a month.<ref name= "Simon p. "/>
+Most of the passengers were [[Eritrea|Eritreans]] fleeing the highly repressive [[Military dictatorship|military regime]] that rules the country.<ref name= "Reidy p. "/><ref name= "Simon p. ">{{harvnb|Simon|2015|p=}}</ref> At the time, around 5,000 Eritreans fled the country every month.<ref name= "Simon p. "/>
 ==Investigation==
-Experts say that a such a large boat sinking would have left some trace.<ref name= "Reidy p. "/> “It’s really strange,” says Othman Belbeisi, who is the International Organization for Migration’s country director for Libya.<ref name= "Reidy p. "/> Refugee advocate and migration expert Fausto Melluso with the Italian organization Arci in Sicily, says that “It is inconceivable that a boat with that many people can go missing in 2014 and nobody know about it.” Dr. Alganesh Fisseha an Eritrean political activist who fled the country herself is an expert on refugee issues. She said that it was the "first time she has heard of such a large group of people going missing without a trace. ... 'It is impossible that they disappeared into thin air'”<ref name= "ReidyB p. "/> During the [[2013 Lampedusa migrant shipwreck|Lampedusa migrant shipwreck]] on October 12, 2013 more than 360 deaths were reported, with just 155 survivors. In that case bodies were spread out over the ocean.
+Experts say that such a large boat sinking would have left some trace.<ref name= "Reidy p. "/> “It’s really strange,” says Othman Belbeisi, who is the International Organization for Migration’s country director for Libya.<ref name= "Reidy p. "/> Refugee advocate and migration expert Fausto Melluso, with the Italian organization Arci in Sicily, said, “It is inconceivable that a boat with that many people can go missing in 2014 and nobody know about it.” Alganesh Fisseha, an Eritrean political activist who fled the country herself, is an expert on refugee issues. She said that it was the "first time she has heard of such a large group of people going missing without a trace. ... 'It is impossible that they disappeared into thin air.'”<ref name= "ReidyB p. "/> During the [[2013 Lampedusa migrant shipwreck|Lampedusa migrant shipwreck]] on October 12, 2013, more than 360 deaths were reported, with just 155 survivors. In that case, bodies were spread out over the ocean.
-Eric Reidy had been working as a reporter in Tunisia when he heard that famed refugee activist Meron Estefanos was investigating reports surrounding the ghost boat. She was looking into a mysterious phone call to relatives of those on the ghost boat that the passengers were detained in a Tunisian prison.<ref name= "ReidyA p. ">{{harvnb|Reidy|2015A|p=}}</ref> However further digging revealed that the phone calls turned out to be a false lead.<ref name= "ReidyA p. "/>
+Eric Reidy had been working as a reporter in Tunisia when he heard that refugee activist [[Meron Estefanos]] was investigating reports surrounding the ghost boat. She was looking into a mysterious phone call to relatives of those on the ghost boat that the passengers were detained in a Tunisian prison.<ref name= "ReidyA p. ">{{harvnb|Reidy|2015a|p=}}</ref> However, further digging revealed that the phone calls turned out to be a false lead.<ref name= "ReidyA p. "/>
 ==See also ==
@@ Line 59: / Line 48: @@
 ==Bibliography==
 '''Notes'''
-{{reflist|20em}}
+{{reflist}}
 '''References'''
-*{{cite web |ref=harv|last=Campbell|first=Zach |date=Nov 11, 2015|url = http://www.cjr.org/innovations/how_medium_crowdsourced_the_migrant_story.php |title =How Matter crowdsourced the migration story|format = |publisher = [[Columbia Journalism Review]]| accessdate = December 7, 2015 |quote=}}
+*{{cite web |last=Campbell|first=Zach |date=Nov 11, 2015|url = https://www.cjr.org/innovations/how_medium_crowdsourced_the_migrant_story.php |title =How Matter crowdsourced the migration story|format = |publisher = [[Columbia Journalism Review]]| access-date = December 7, 2015 |quote=}}
-*{{cite web |ref=harv|last=Gatti|first=Fabrizio |date=Nov 7, 2014|url = http://gatti.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/2014/11/07/missing-boat-case-measho-tesfamariam-only-god-knows-what-happened/?refresh_ce|title =Missing boat case, Measho Tesfamariam: only God knows what happened|format = |publisher = repubblica.it| accessdate = January 16, 2016 |quote=}}
+*{{cite web |last=Gatti|first=Fabrizio|author-link=Fabrizio Gatti|date=Oct 23, 2014b|url = http://espresso.repubblica.it/attualita/2014/10/23/news/chi-e-l-uomo-della-strage-dei-profughi-1.185258|title =Chi è l'uomo della strage dei profughi|format = |publisher = [[L'espresso]]|language=Italian| access-date = January 21, 2016 |quote=}}
-* {{cite web |ref=harv|last=Johnson|first=Bobbie |date=November 13, 2015|url = https://medium.com/ghostboat/ghost-boat-a-primer-a83121e13eb2#.m1nct6tvg |title =Ghost Boat: A Primer|format = |publisher = [[Medium (publishing platform)|medium.com]]| accessdate = December 7, 2015 |quote=}}
+*{{cite web |last=Gatti|first=Fabrizio|author-link=Fabrizio Gatti|date=Nov 7, 2014|url = http://gatti.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/2014/11/07/missing-boat-case-measho-tesfamariam-only-god-knows-what-happened/?refresh_ce|title =Missing boat case, Measho Tesfamariam: only God knows what happened|format = |publisher =  [[L'espresso]]| access-date = January 16, 2016 |quote=}}
-*{{cite web |ref=harv|last=Owen|first=Laura Hazard|date=Oct 7, 2015|url = http://www.niemanlab.org/2015/10/243-people-disappeared-on-a-ship-in-the-mediterranean-a-new-project-from-medium-aims-to-find-them/ |title =243 people disappeared on a ship in the Mediterranean; a new project from Medium aims to find them|format = |publisher = [[Nieman Foundation for Journalism]]| accessdate = December 7, 2015 |quote=}}
+* {{cite web |last=Johnson|first=Bobbie |date=November 13, 2015|url = https://medium.com/ghostboat/ghost-boat-a-primer-a83121e13eb2#.m1nct6tvg |title =Ghost Boat: A Primer|format = |publisher = [[Medium (publishing platform)|medium.com]]| access-date = December 7, 2015 |quote=}}
-*{{cite web |ref=harv|last=Reidy|first=Eric |date=Oct 7, 2015|url = https://medium.com/ghostboat/243-people-disappeared-young-people-women-children-and-no-one-cares-65a2d5019a74#.4nsf9zsnb |title =243 People Disappeared. Young People. Women. Children. And No One Cares|format = |publisher = [[Medium (publishing platform)|medium.com]]| accessdate = December 7, 2015 |quote=}}
+*{{cite web |last=Owen|first=Laura Hazard|date=Oct 7, 2015|url = http://www.niemanlab.org/2015/10/243-people-disappeared-on-a-ship-in-the-mediterranean-a-new-project-from-medium-aims-to-find-them/ |title =243 people disappeared on a ship in the Mediterranean; a new project from Medium aims to find them|format = |publisher = [[Nieman Foundation for Journalism]]| access-date = December 7, 2015 |quote=}}
-*{{cite web |ref=harv|last=Reidy|first=Eric|date=Oct 29, 2015A|url = https://medium.com/ghostboat/now-i-have-learned-that-there-s-a-worse-thing-than-death-b57aa86f2f05#.20bb8hfht |title =Now I Have Learned That There’s a Worse Thing Than Death|format = |publisher = [[Medium (publishing platform)|medium.com]]| accessdate = December 7, 2015 |quote=}}
+*{{cite web |last=Reidy|first=Eric |date=Oct 7, 2015|url = https://medium.com/ghostboat/243-people-disappeared-young-people-women-children-and-no-one-cares-65a2d5019a74#.4nsf9zsnb |title =243 People Disappeared. Young People. Women. Children. And No One Cares|format = |publisher = [[Medium (publishing platform)|medium.com]]| access-date = December 7, 2015 |quote=}}
-*{{cite web |ref=harv|last=Reidy|first=Eric|date=Nov 5, 2015B|url = https://medium.com/ghostboat/at-first-the-traffickers-were-more-human-then-slowly-they-started-the-torture-2da698e1d846#.d0k6cifd4 |title =At First The Traffickers Were More Human. Then Slowly They Started The Torture.|format = |publisher = [[Medium (publishing platform)|medium.com]]| accessdate = December 7, 2015 |quote=}}
+*{{cite web |last=Reidy|first=Eric|date=Oct 29, 2015a|url = https://medium.com/ghostboat/now-i-have-learned-that-there-s-a-worse-thing-than-death-b57aa86f2f05#.20bb8hfht |title =Now I Have Learned That There's a Worse Thing Than Death|format = |publisher = [[Medium (publishing platform)|medium.com]]| access-date = December 7, 2015 |quote=}}
-*{{cite web |ref=harv|last=Reidy|first=Eric|date=Nov 12, 2015C|url = https://medium.com/ghostboat/someone-is-making-up-lies-4c9f21d5da24#.qqhcg59s7 |title =Someone Is Making Up Lies|format = |publisher = [[Medium (publishing platform)|medium.com]]| accessdate = December 7, 2015 |quote=}}
+*{{cite web |last=Reidy|first=Eric|date=Nov 5, 2015b|url = https://medium.com/ghostboat/at-first-the-traffickers-were-more-human-then-slowly-they-started-the-torture-2da698e1d846#.d0k6cifd4 |title =At First The Traffickers Were More Human. Then Slowly They Started The Torture.|format = |publisher = [[Medium (publishing platform)|medium.com]]| access-date = December 7, 2015 |quote=}}
-*{{cite web |ref=harv|last=Simon|first=Scott|date=2015|url = http://www.npr.org/2015/10/10/447451332/in-search-of-a-ghost-boat-and-the-243-on-board |title =In Search Of A Ghost Boat And The 243 On Board|format = |publisher = [[NPR]]| accessdate = December 7, 2015 |quote=}}
+*{{cite web |last=Reidy|first=Eric|date=Nov 12, 2015c|url = https://medium.com/ghostboat/someone-is-making-up-lies-4c9f21d5da24#.qqhcg59s7 |title =Someone Is Making Up Lies|format = |publisher = [[Medium (publishing platform)|medium.com]]| access-date = December 7, 2015 |quote=}}
+*{{cite web |last=Simon|first=Scott|date=2015|url = https://www.npr.org/2015/10/10/447451332/in-search-of-a-ghost-boat-and-the-243-on-board |title =In Search Of A Ghost Boat And The 243 On Board|format = |publisher = [[NPR]]| access-date = December 7, 2015 |quote=}}
+{{Authority control}}
-{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghost boat, 2014}}
 [[Category:2014 in Libya|Migrant shipwreck]]
 [[Category:Maritime incidents in 2014|Migrant shipwreck]]
 [[Category:Maritime incidents in Libya]]
-[[Category:Migrant boat disasters in the Mediterranean Sea]]
+[[Category:Mass disappearances]]
+[[Category:Transport disasters involving refugees of the Arab Winter (2011–present)]]
 [[Category:Illegal immigration to Italy]]
+[[Category:Migrant boat disasters in the Mediterranean Sea]]