Building a Timeline of Ghost Boat
We are trying to find the Ghost Boat that was supposed to leave Zuwarah in northwestern Libya on June 28th or June 29th, 2014. Nobody is exactly sure what happened to it.
Here is a timeline detailing important elements and pieces of evidence in the case. This document will be updated as we gather new information.
May 2014
May 31: Segen and Abi leave Khartoum.
June 2014
Early June: Segen and Abi travel through the desert with the smugglers. Because of car problems, the journey takes two weeks.
Mid-June: Segen calls Yafet from Benghazi.
Circa June 22: Segen and Abi arrive in Tripoli.
June 27: Yafet’s last phone call with Segen.
June 28/29: Ghost Boat is due to set sail.
July 2014
July 4: Smuggler tells Yafet the boat has arrived in Europe.
November 2014
November 7: In an interview with an Italian journalist, Measho Tesfamariam denies that he was a smuggler. “Only God knows” what happened to the boat, he says.
December 2014
December 2: Tesfamariam and others are arrested as part of Operation Tokhla.
January 2015
January 18: Meron Estefanos travels to Tunisia. She checks prison records there but can’t find the names of the Ghost Boat passengers. A few sources tell her the passengers may be in Sfax.
January 21: Estefanos visits Sfax. She checks prison records there but can’t find the passengers’ names. Someone at the Sfax courthouse says they’ve heard about a similar group, but nothing is documented.
