Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations –4th of August 2018

Case name: 2018_08_04-WM304
Situation: 4 boats in Western Mediterranean, 3 picked up by Moroccan Marine, 1 returned on its own
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On Saturday, 4th of August, we were dealing with 4 boats in distress, 3 in the Strait of Gibraltar and one in the Alboran Sea. 3 boats had eventually been picked up by the Moroccan Marine Royale, one boat returned on its own to the Moroccan shore. We were alerted to two additional boats that eventually were intercepted by the Moroccan Marine Royale, but we hadn’t been able to establish a connection to the boats and couldn’t intervene.


Case 1: At 6:28am CEST we received a call from a contact person, informing us about a boat in distress that had started from Tangier at 1:30am local time. Among the 12 people on board were 3 women and one baby. We called the boat at 6:33am and tried to find out their GPS position. We only managed to reach the boat again at 8:35am and received their position. They asked for rescue. At 8:37am we called the Spanish rescue authority Salvamento Marítimo and informed them about the boat. As the boat was deep in Moroccan waters, they asked us to inform MRCC Rabat as well. We asked Salvamento to alert MRCC Rabat. In the following hours, we stayed in contact with the travellers that informed that their situation was getting worse. We wrote emails to the respective authorities with the updated positions that we received and called MRCC Rabat to inform them directly. We eventually lost contact to the boat and reached them only at 5pm, when they informed us that they had managed to return to the Moroccan coast on their own.

Case 2: At 9:15am CEST we were alerted to a boat carrying 9 people. They had left from Tangier at 4am local time. In the following hours, we tried to stay in touch with the boat, but couldn’t reach them anymore. Only at 2pm we received a message from one of the travellers, stating that they had been intercepted by the Moroccan Marine Royale.

Case 3: At 9:23am CEST we were informed about a boat from Tangier, carrying 12 people, among them 2 women. We called the boat several times, trying to find out their GPS position. At 11:45am we received the information that the people had been picked up by the Moroccan Marine Royale.

Case 4: At 8pm CEST we were alerted to a boat in the Alboran Sea, carrying 55 people, among them 19 women and 4 babies. They had problems with their engine and asked for urgent assistance. We couldn’t establish a connection to the boat but informed Salvamento Marítimo at 8:29pm. They had already been alerted to the boat but informed MRCC Rabat since the boat was in Moroccan waters. In the following hours, we tried to receive an updated GPS position from the boat. We eventually managed to receive a location at 0:45am next morning. At 00:52am we called Salvamento Marítimo Almería. As the boat was very close to Moroccan shore, Salvamento informed us that they couldn’t enter the Moroccan zone to rescue and that they would inform MRCC Rabat. We called MRCC Rabat ourselves as well at 00:58am and passed all information. We also send an email with all relevant information to the respective authorities in Spain and Morocco. Afterwards, we stayed in contact with the boat. As no assistance had arrived until 2am, we called MRCC Rabat again. They promised to send assistance. One hour later, the travellers informed us that they were still at sea. Afterwards, we lost contact to the boat. At 5:01am we called MRCC Rabat that informed us they had returned the boat to Morocco. At 11am we received a message from the travellers confirming their rescue.