Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 23rd of February 2016

Case name: 2016_02_23-WM83
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to boat in distress in the Western Mediterranean Sea, rescued to Spain
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Tuesday the 23rd of February 2016, our Alarm Phone team was alerted to a vessel in distress in the Western Mediterranean Sea. At 9.52am we received a call from a group of 11 people who had left Tangier about 3 hours earlier and were trying to reach Tarifa/Spain. They were rowing in a zodiac vessel and were tired and thirsty. Since they were very likely still in Moroccan waters and moving toward Spain, we agreed with them to send us regular updates about their well-being in the coming hours. When we could not reach them between 10.20-10.40am, we informed the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) and they confirmed that they had rescued a boat with 11 persons on board and a baby. However, both the authorities and we were not entirely convinced that this was the same group of people. SM agreed to work on the case. While we were unable to reach the boat again afterwards, we saw that an activist of Caminando Fronteras had tweeted about a group of 11 people who were between Tangier and Tarifa. When we wrote to them, they confirmed that they had been rescued to Spain. While we cannot ultimately verify whether this was the group in question, it appears to be highly likely.