Watch The Med Alarm Phone Report – 5th of December 2014

Case name: 2014_12_4-WM1
Situation: Vessel in immediate distress in the Western Mediterranean Sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Ongoing (Last update: 6th of December 2014)
Time and Place of Incident: 4th and 5th of December 2014, Western Mediterranean Sea

Brief Summary of the Case: A rubber vessel embarked from Morocco toward Spain on the 4th of December with 57 people on board, including 9 children. When the Spanish sea search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo discovered the vessel south of Almería on the 5th of December, 28 passengers were rescued. However, during the journey 29 people had fallen overboard and went missing, amongst them 8 of the 9 children on board. The search and rescue operation was called off after three days of searching, and those who are missing are presumed dead. A shift team of the Watch The Med Alarm Phone was alerted to the case through migrant communities who had ties with those on the vessel. The shift team could not establish direct contact with the passengers on the boat but followed the case and was in regular contact with the migrant community as well as with Salvamento Maritimo.

Summary of the Case: On the evening of the 4th of December, a vessel with 57 people on board embarked from Northern Morocco and sought to reach Spain. During their journey the vessel’s engine cut out and the vessel was in danger of capsizing. Members of a migrant community, who were awaiting the arrival of the vessel, alerted both Caminando Fronteras and the Watch The Med Alarm Phone shift team.

Caminando Fronteras alerted the Spanish sea search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) which quickly began a large search and rescue operation, including two planes and one helicopter as well as two rescue vessels. SM had also alerted cargo vessels in the region of the situation of distress. However, the search remained without success in the evening of the 4th.

On the 5th, SM finally found the vessel and rescued the 28 survivors who showed symptoms of hypothermia. Amongst the survivors are one child, 17 men and 10 women. One pregnant woman and the only child that survived were brought to hospital by helicopter while the Red Cross was caring for the other survivors in Almería. The SM continued to search for those who had fallen overboard during the journey and went missing. However, no one was found and the search and rescue operation was called off after three days. Those 29 who remain missing, amongst them 8 children, are presumed dead.

Members of the Watch The Med Alarm Phone were in direct contact with the migrant community that was expecting the arrival of the people on the vessel. They exchanged information regularly with them as well as the SM. Direct contact with the people on the boat could not be established, due to a presumed lack of a satellite phone on board. A member of the Alarm Phone was also in close contact with the migrant community when it became clear that many had gone missing and died which was a difficult but important task. All Watch The Med members wish to express their sincere condolence to the families and friends of those who went missing.

An activist from ‘Afrique-Europe-Interact’ and ‘Droits de Migrants’ knows the family of the young children Assun and Waten who died in the tragedy. He wrote a text to commemorate them and the other victims. Donations are collected for the funeral of the children and money transfers can be made to the non-profit account of Afrique-Europe-Interact with the keywords ‘Droits de Migrants’: http://afrique-europe-interact.net/?article_id=1258&clang=0