Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 26th of October 2018
Case name: 2018_10_26-WM346
Situation: 4 boats: 2 boats rescued to Spain; 1 boat intercepted by Marine Royale; 1 boat rescued to Spain but 1 baby died

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On October 26th, 2018, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to four cases of distress. Three boats were eventually rescued to Spain, but a small baby died in the second case. One boat was intercepted and brought back to Morocco by the Marine Royale

At 2.46am, the shift team was alerted to a boat of 7 people including 1 pregnant woman who left from a beach close to Tangier. The shift team alerted Salvamiento Maritimo to the case, including the fact that the pregnant woman had health problems and needed urgent rescue. The shift team maintained contact with the coast guard and the boat for seeral hours. At 7.21am, rescue of the boat to Spain was confirmed.

At 5.25am the shift team received news of a boat that left around Tangier with 8 people. The shift team remained in touch with the boat until 6.36am when they received confirmation the boat had been rescued

At 8.56am, the Alarm Phone received news of another boat of 7 people which left from Tangier. The shift team remained in contact with the boat until 9.52am when they received confirmation that the boat had been intercepted and brought back to Morocco

Finally, the Alarm Phone received news at 20.25pm about a boat with 54 people (including 10 women and 5 children) that had left from Nador, Morocco early that morning. The boat was unreachable, so the shift team called Salvamiento Maritimo who already knew about the case. The shift team also contacted CEAR and UNHCR about the case. The boat remained unreachable for several hours. The shift team maintained contact with Salvamiento Maritimo to establish updates. Finally, at 20.35 on October 27th, the shift team received news that the boat had been rescued to Spain, but one child had died.