Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 17th of July 2019

Case name: 2019_07_17-WM404
Situation: 67 travelers on two boats, all intercepted by the Moroccan Navy
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Cases:
On Wednesday, 17th of July, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 2 boats in the Western Mediterranean Sea. In the first alert there were 13 travelers, all men, the second group consisted of 54 people, among them three women, one of them pregnant. Both groups were picked up by the Marine Royale and brought back to Morocco.
Case 1:
At 09:59am CEST, our shift team was informed about a boat with 13 travelers, all men. According to the person who informed us, they had started from Achakar, Morocco at 03:00am local time. At 10:01am we received their GPS-location and a phone number on the boat via our contact person. From this moment on we tried to establish a direct connection to the travelers but could not get through to them. At 2:55pm we observed the movement of a rescue vessel of Salvamento Marítimo online and saw that it was in the same area as the GPS-location we had received from the boat. We continuously tried to establish a connection to the travelers but without success and at 04:04pm our contact person informed us that they had been intercepted by the Moroccan Navy Marine Royale. At 5:26pm we also received the confirmation from Salvamento Marítimo that MRCC Rabat had picked up a group of 13 travelers.
Case 2:
At 06:40pm our shift team received the information via a contact person that 54 travelers were in distress in the Western Mediterranean, asking to be rescued. At 6:59pm the contact person passed us the phone number of the people on board and told us they had started at 03:00am from Nador, Morocco, and did not have a smartphone with them, which means they were not able to send GPS-locations. The last contact between them and the contact person had been one hour ago. We started to try and call the travelers, but it was not possible to get through. At 07:10pm we called Salvamento Marítimo to ask if they had information about the boat, but they could not give any. At 07:27pm we called the Moroccan MRCC Rabat who told us they were aware of the case but did not have any GPS-location, and we agreed to continue to try and reach the travelers to collect further information that could be shared with MRCC Rabat.
At 7:54pm we got through to the travelers and due to a bad connection, we only understood that they had seen an airplane which seemed to have spotted their boat and left. We learned that there was a pregnant woman among them, and everybody was tired. At 07:58pm we received the additional information from our contact person that there were three women on board and the engine had stopped working 10 hours ago. At 08:34pm the travelers called the Alarm Phone. They said they had sent us a GPS-Position, but we never received any.
At 08:45pm we called SM Madrid and learned that they had spotted four migrant boats in the area. We passed them the phone number of the travelers and they informed us that their airplane had spotted a boat and was sending a rescue vessel there which should arrive on scene in minimum one hour. We concluded this were the people we were in contact with. At 09:00pm the travelers called us but the connection broke. At 09:58pm we tried to ask MRCC Rabat for new information but could not reach them. At 10:07pm we reached them and passed them the phone number of the travelers. They did not answer to our question if they were conducting the rescue operation or the Spanish authorities were doing it. At 10:12pm we spoke to the travelers again and due to a bad connection, we could not be sure, but we assumed to understand that their rescue had started. At 10:50pm we sent an e-mail to MRCC Rabat with the collected information to ask for a confirmation of the rescue. We continued calling the travelers for the next hours without success. At 00:51am we called SM Madrid and learned that the Moroccan Navy had rescued a boat with 54 people and brought them to Nador. We continued to try and reach the people without success and the next day at 12:10pm we were informed that the people were back in Morocco.