Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 28th of March 2018

Case name: 2018_03_27-WM218
Situation: 30 travellers rescued by the Spanish Salvanemto Maritimo
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Wednesday the 28th of March, at 6.10pm, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a contact person to a group of 29 travellers in distress, including three women (we later found out that the exact number of the people was 30). The contact person forwarded us the phone number of the travellers and informed us that they had left from Nador at 5.30am, and that the last contact to the boat had been at midday, at which time the motor on the boat was no longer working. We were not able to establish direct contact to the travellers, so at 6.17pm we called the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) and passed on the information we had. They informed us that they had already rescued eight boats the same day, and told us to contact the Moroccan navy concerning the case. At 6.30pm we called the Moroccan Marine Royale, who said that they were already aware of the case and searching for the boat. During several calls to SM, we learned that all their search and rescue vessels were heading back to Spain after having carried out rescue operations, and that therefore the Moroccan navy would need to deal with this boat, which according to their estimates was still located in Moroccan waters. In a call to Marine Royale at 8.46pm, they confirmed that they were still searching for the boat and informed us that they had already carried out nine rescue operations that day.
The rest of the evening, and most of the following day, our shift team tried hard to obtain information about what had happened to the boat. We were continuously in contact with the contact person, called the local police in Spain, who could not give us any information, and communicated with the Spanish Red Cross. Only at 9.45pm the following evening, did we receive a confirmation from the contact person, that the travellers had all arrived safely to Spain.