Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 07th of January 2020
Case name: 2020_01_07-WM443
Situation: 12 people including 2 women rowing from Tanger, rescued to Morocco, 1 person disapeared during the rescue operation
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:
At 03:01h CET Alarm Phone was contacted directly by a boat, carrying 12 people, including 2 women, rowing from Tanger. The people on board were afraid and asking for help as the wind got stronger. When our team called the Spanish Search and Rescue organisation Salvamento Marítimo (SM) in Tarifa they informed us that the boat was rescued by the Moroccan Marine Royale. Around 08:39h we learned from one of the travellers that during the operation, two hours earlier, the zodiac capsized and everyone had fallen into the water; one person had no life jacket and disappeared. We decided to put pressure on the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) in Rabat to find the missing person. We also called back SM in Tarifa/Cadiz to increase the chances that the person, who had been described as a good swimmer, would be rescued. SM knew about the boat and had already offered assistance to the Morrocan Navy who declined. They told us that they therefore were not able to do anything, as the the zodiac capsized in Moroccan waters.
At 02:10h the next day, approximatively 30 hours after the rescue operation, MRCC Rabat confirmed to our team that they had not found the man.
We sadly closed this case, asking ourselves, how a person could disappear in the moment of a rescue, why this person had no life jacket, and why people are still loosing their lives in this sea.