Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigation – 2nd of June 2015

Case name: 2015_06_02-WM15
Situation: Distress call from the Western Mediterranean Sea, rescued by the Spanish Salvamento Maritimo
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: At around 5.30am on Tuesday the 2nd of June 2015, a contact person located on mainland Morocco informed the Alarm Phone shift team about a vessel in distress in the Western Mediterranean Sea and passed on the phone number of one of the passengers. The small plastic vessel had left Cap Spartel in Morocco at around 3am in the morning, carrying 8 men and 2 women.

The shift team contacted the Spanish rescue agency Salvamento Maritimo in Tarifa who confirmed that they would begin to search for the vessel. These information were passed back to our contact person. At around 6.15am he reached out to us once again, informing us that the phone on board seemed to be switched off. We contacted Salvamento Maritimo and learned that they once had established contact to the passengers but that communication had broken off. They confirmed that they had sent out a rescue vessel.

At around 6.30am, our contact person called again and informed us that he had been able to re-establish contact to the people in distress. They could see a white vessel in vicinity. Salvamento Maritimo stated shortly afterwards that they had spoken to the passengers as well and suggested that they were still located in Moroccan waters, not far from Tangier. He also stated that they were in contact with the Moroccan authorities.

From 7am onwards our shift team received several calls from our contact person who reported that the situation was getting worse with passengers becoming sea sick and waves growing larger. About forty minutes later, the passengers detected an orange vessel in vicinity and it turned out to be the Spanish rescue vessel Salvamar Alkaid that rescued them and brought them to Spain.