Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 13th of September 2018
Case name: 2018_09_13-WM329
Situation: Two boats in distress on their way to Spain, rescued by SM.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Thursdayday the 13th of September, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to two boats in distress on their way to Spain; one which had left from Tangier and one which had left from around Nador. Both boats were rescued by the Spanish search and rescue organization Salvamento Maritimo (SM).

At 7.38am CEST the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a contact person to a boat carrying eight people (including two women), who had left from a beach close to Tangier three hours earlier. The contact person forwarded us the position and a phone number of the travellers. Via the contact person we received the updated position of the travellers over the next couple of hours. At midday we called SM and forwarded all the information we had. At 12.20pm the contact person informed us that the situation was getting more urgent, as the boat had started to lose air. We immediately passed on this information to SM. At 1.45pm SM confirmed to us that they had rescued the travellers.


At 3.31pm CEST our shift team was alerted to 54 travellers (including nine women) who had left on two boats from around Nador the night before. The contact person forwarded us the phone numbers of both boats, and told us that they had last been in contact the previous night. We were also not able to reach the travellers. At 6.01pm we called SM and gave them the information we had. They informed us that they had already rescued 4 boats that day and were still looking for another two boats, but they were not able to confirm if the travellers we called about had been rescued. At 7.18pm we called SM again. They told us that they had rescued two boats with 53 people, including two women, who would be taken to Almeria.