Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigation – 18th of September 2015

Case name: 2015_09_18-WM57
Situation: Vessel carrying 11 people intercepted by Moroccan Navy between Morocco and Spain, brought back to Tangier
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: A member of the Alarm Phone was alerted to a boat in distress between Tangier/Morocco and Tarifa/Spain on the morning of Friday the 18th of September 2015. 11 travellers had left Tangier at 5am and had asked her in a direct phone call to alert the Spanish rescue organization Salvamento Maritimo in Tarifa. At 9.40am Salvamento Maritimo confirmed to the Alarm Phone that they had been in contact with this boat and had started a search and rescue operation.

From 11am onwards, the shift team established direct contact to the boat several times. The travellers were calm but still in distress and told us that the coastguard had not yet arrived. At 11.48am we learned from Salvamento Maritimo in Tarifa that the Moroccan Navy had intercepted the boat. A couple of minutes later we called the travellers again, who had indeed been brought to a police station in the port of Tangier-Med and were very upset and in a bad condition. At around noon we alerted several contact persons in Tangier and at 12.30pm they also confirmed that the 11 travellers were back in Morocco.