On 30 June, Mediterranean rescue organisation Alarm Phone said it was alerted by nearly 20 people in distress, trying to escape from Sabratha on a wooden boat about 40 miles off Lampedusa. The group later said the migrants ‘were able to finally escape Libya’ after their relatives said they made it to the Italian island.
A day earlier, the Sabratha Security Directorate announced the seizure of a wooden boat intended for human smuggling and set to sail from the eastern coast of the city. Following the arrest of a smuggler in the raid, the Public Prosecution ordered a search for the remaining gang members in order to issue arrest warrants against them.