Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 11th of August 2016

Case name: 2016_08_11-WM114
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 1 emergency situation in the Western Med
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Thursday the 11th of August 2016, the WatchTheMed Alarm Phone was alerted to a vessel in distress in the Western Mediterranean Sea. At 7.47am, our shift team received a call from a contact person in Morocco who informed us about a vessel carrying 7 people at sea. They had left about 4 hours earlier from Morocco and were heading toward Tarifa/Spain. We then called the boat-people and they were evidently anxious and panicky, urgently asking us to inform the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo, which we did at 8.12am. Afterwards we were in regular contact with the refugees and tried to advise them to stay calm and wait for the SAR operation. At 8.49am, the refugees reported that they could see a plane above them. At 9.09am, Salvamento Maritimo informed us that the Moroccan Navy had discovered the refugees. When we were unable to reconnect with the refugees, we contacted the initial contact person and informed him about the developments. At 11.51am, the refugees contacted us and informed us that they were with the Moroccan authorities. A friend of the Alarm Phone in Morocco then reached out to them and learned at noon that the refugees had been returned to Moroccan mainland and that they would be released once they had been identified by the Moroccan authorities.