Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 12th of July 2018
Case name: 2018_07_12-WM283
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to five distress cases between Morocco and Spain.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Thursday the 12th of July, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to five boats on their way towards Spain. Four of the boats were rescued by the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) and one was intercepted by the Moroccan navy.

At 7.10am CEST we were alerted by a contact person to a group of 13 travellers, including five women and a child. At 7.20am we reached the traveller who informed us that they had left from Tangier at 3.30am local time, and were travelling on a boat without a motor. Through the contact person we were able to receive updated positions from the boat. At 10.15am the contact person informed us that the travellers had been intercepted by the Moroccan navy.

At 8.30am CEST a contact person informed us about a boat with 12 people including two women. We reached the travellers who were distressed and urgently asking for help. At 8.53am we passed on the information to SM who were already aware of the case. We were able to monitor the trajectory of the search and rescue boat of SM online, and could see that they were moving towards the position of the travellers. At 10.11am the travellers told us that they had been rescued by SM.

At 8.46am CEST we were alerted by a contact person to a group of 12 people, including two women. The travellers had left at 3.20am local time from a beach south of Tangier, and we received their updated positions from the contact person. At 10.00am we called SM and passed on the information we had. At 10.30am we received a confirmation from the contact person that the people had been rescued and were being brought to Spain.

At 10.00am CEST a contact person informed us about a group of 12 travellers including two women who had left from south of Tangier at around 3am local time, forwarding us their position. The contact person had lost contact to the boat. At 10.24am we called SM and passed on the information we had. In the following hours we were not able to reach the travellers, and neither SM nor the Moroccan rescue authorities could confirm that they had rescued the group. At 2.15pm we spoke to the Moroccan rescue authorities, who confirmed that they were still looking for this boat.
Only in the evening at 9.58pm did we get a confirmation from the contact person that the travellers had been rescued and brought to Spain.

At 9.08pm CEST we received information from a contact person about a boat with 52 people, including six women, which had left from around Nador at 3.00am local time. The contact person was no longer able to reach the travellers. At 9.30pm we passed on the information we had to SM who were already aware of the case. They told us that they were looking for the boat with a helicopter. We were not able to get any updates about the search and rescue operation, and only two days later did we get a confirmation from the contact person that they had arrived safely to Melilla.