The NGO AlarmPhone operates an alert system for ships in distress, and on Saturday afternoon, it received a call from GPS coordinates located in Maltese territorial waters from 49 people lost at sea, including a pregnant woman and three children, who had left Tripoli the day before on a makeshift boat.

AlarmPhone then alerts the Maltese authorities and the European agency Frontex. But a few hours later, the boat is intercepted by Libyan coast guards and the passengers forcibly disembarked in Tripoli, where some escape and others are beaten and then detained, according to their relatives.

On Monday, the IOM took stock of the weekend at sea: aboard five boats, 406 people, says the organization, "fleeing violence and disastrous living conditions", were returned to Tripoli, "where there are serious concerns about their safety".

According to a humanitarian worker who recently traveled to Libya, "this mechanism is now an acknowledged rule, despite repeated violations of international law". On the UNHCR side, they merely confirm the return of 406 people "to a country at war (...) at risk of arbitrary detention and abuse", but without specifying where they were intercepted.