Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 6th of July 2018

Case name: 2018_07_06-WM278
Situation: 5 boats in distress, all intercepted to Morocco
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Friday, 6th of July, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 5 boats in distress in the Western Mediterranean Sea. 4 boats were intercepted the same day, one big convoi of 40 people had been missing for more than 40 hours.


At 6:30am CEST we were alerted to a boat in distress carrying 12 people, among them 2 women. The boat had left from close to Cap Spartel / Morocco at 1:30am local time. In the following hours, we tried to establish a direct connection to the boat. At 1:13pm we reached them. They had been intercepted by the Moroccan Marine Royale.

At 7:30am CEST we received information an a second group that had also left from close to Cap Spartel, consisting of 13 people. We tried to call the boat throughout the morning, but only reached them at 12:56am. They informed us that they had been intercepted by the Moroccan Marine Royale.

At 8:20am CEST we were informed about a third group from close to Spartel, consisting of 5 people, that had left towards Spain at 2am local time. At 8:47am we managed to reach the travallers, but the connection was too bad to explain how to send a GPS position. The travellers informed us that their rubber boat was losing air. At 9:34am they informed us that the Moroccan Marine Royale was approaching them. They confirmed the interception at 9:40am.

At 12:10am CEST we received information about 5 travellers in distress that had left from Cap Spartel at 4am local time. At 12:49am we managed to establish a connection to the boat and asked them to send their GPS position. In the following hours we could neither reach the contact person nor the travellers on board. At 3:39am following morning we called Salvamento Marítimo to ask about a case of 5 persons. They didn’t have any information regarding the case. We continued to try to reach the travellers throughout the next day, but couldn’t establish a phone connection any more.

Case 5: At 4:21am CEST a contact person informed us about a convoi of 40 travellers that had left from Assilah towards Spain at 11pm local time the night before. Among the group were 10 women. In the following hours, we tried to find out phone numbers of the travellers and afterwards to reach them directly, but we couldn’t establish a connection to the boat. At 0:40am following morning we called Salvamento Marítimo and passed all information. They mentioned they would already be aware of the case. We then continued to try to call the boat. At 1:12am, we called Salvamento Marítimo again, but they couldn’t provide new information on the case. At 1:34am we managed to reach the travellers and asked for their GPS position. We informed Salvamento that the boat was reachable and passed the phone number that was working. We also sent an email with all relevant information to the respective authorities. At 3:39am we called Salvamento again; they informed us that they were receiving GPS positions from the boat and had passed the information to the Moroccan Marine Royale as the boat was in Moroccan territorial waters. We tried to establish a connection to the boat ourselves, but couldn’t reach any of the phone numbers on board. At 5:02am we called MRCC Rabat. The operator informed us that the navy was searching for the boat. We sent an email to MRCC Rabat to document the alert. At 6:33am we called MRCC Rabat again, but didn’t receive any new information, neither at 7:58am, when we called again. At 8:00am we called Salvamento Marítimo Tarifa, that stated they would not be allowed to enter the Moroccan zone to search the boat. The phone numbers on board remained unreachable. In the following hours we tried to reach friends and relatives of the travellers to find out if anyone had actual information. At 12:45am we called both Moroccan and Spanish authorities but didn’t receive any further information. We started to emphasizes the need for a bigger search and rescue operation on social media.
At 2:48pm MRCC Rabat informed us that the search would still be ongoing. The travellers had been more than 36 hours at sea already, when a contact person informed us he had reached them. He said the had lost orientation. At 4:15pm Helena Maleno from Caminando Fronteras started to alert to the same case on twitter as well. At 5:37pm we called Salvamento Marítimo Tarifa. They informed us that the boat had been localized and they would be on their way to rescue them. In the following hours we tried unsuccessfully to reach the boat. At 8:27pm we called SM Tarifa, that said they would still search for the boat with aerial and naval assets. At 10:27pm they still didn’t have news, neither at 00:50am following morning. At 9:11am we were informed that the travellers had managed to return to the Moroccan shore themselves. They had nevertheless been picked up by the police and were at a police station in critical condition with chemical burns and exhausted from the days at sea. They were released some time later.