Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 16th of March 2019
Case name: 2019_16_03-WM379
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 6 people on their way from Tangier. They were brought back to Morocco and deported towards the south of the country.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Saturday the 16th of March at 9.38am CET, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a contact person to a group of 6 people, who had left from a beach close to Tangier at around 5.30am. Neither we nor the contact person were able to reach the travellers, despite many attempts. At 1.14pm we called the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) and passed on the information we had. They told us that they would hand over the case to the Moroccan rescue authorities. At 2.24pm we called the Moroccan rescue authorities, who were aware of the case, but could not give us any updates on the operation. At 5.22pm, in another call, they informed us that they had rescued the travellers and brought them back to Morocco. This was confirmed in the evening by the contact person. However, the next morning we were informed that the travellers were being deported along with 36 other people to Tiznit in the south of Morocco, something which has become a common practice in Morocco when people are intercepted at sea.