28/12: 1 boat from Nador rescued by SM, 4 boats from tangier – 2 intercepted by MR, one returned by itself, 1 rescued by SM

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 28th of December 2018
Case name: 2018_12_28-WM362
Situation: 1 boat from Nador rescued by SM, 4 boats from tangier – 2 intercepted by MR, one returned by itself, 1 rescued by SM
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Friday the 28th of December the Alarm phone shift team was alerted to 5 boats in distress: One boat carrying 45 people travelling from Nador which was later rescued by the Spanish Search and Rescue Organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) and 4 more boats leaving from the area around Tangier. Among the 4 boats leaving from Tangier was one boat in distress carrying 8 people (including 1 pregnant woman and 1 child) which was rescued by Marine Royale but not before one person died, and two other boats carrying 9 and 13 people. One of which was taken by Marine Royale, and the other went back to Morocco by themselves. Another boat from Tangier carrying 6 people (including 4 women) who had left from Achakar was later rescued by SM.

At 12:52am the Alarm phone shift team was alerted to a boat carrying 45 people which had left Nador the previous day (the 27th) at around 11am. At 1:14am we contacted SM about the case. They had a rescue ship in that zone, but hadn’t seen anything. After we received a phone number for the boat (but failed to make contact), we sent a mail to SM with the information of the case. Finally at 11:02pm We received an update from our contact person that the boat had been rescued by SM earlier that day.
At 4:05am we were alerted to a zodiac boat carrying 8 people (including 1 pregnant woman and 1 child) which had left from Tanger at 10pm. At 4:39am we received a GPS position for the boat.
As they had lost their paddles and were heading in the wrong direction, we informed SM at 5:20am of the case. When we called SM again at 6am they told us that they were in direct contact with the boat, and that Marine Royale were responsible and would carry out the rescue. Our next call to the boat confirmed this. At 6:40am we contacted Marine Royale and provided them with an updated GPS position, and reminded them that the travellers were in significant distress and desperately needed rescuing. We were told to call back in an hour. At 7:03am we received information that one of the travellers on the boat had died. We again contacted Marine Royale who told us that the rescue of this boat (and two others) was currently on-going. At 10:02am we received confirmation that the travellers had been taken by Marine Royale.
At 5:10am we were alerted to two boats, one carrying 13 people and another carrying 9 people. By 6:07am we had contact numbers and GPS positions of both boats. At 6:28am we contacted SM who told us that they were already in contact with boats, had their GPS positions and were going to rescue them. At 10am we received information that Marine Royale had taken the boat carrying 9 people, and that the boat carrying 13 people had gone back to Morocco by themselves.
At 10:14am we were alerted to a boat carrying 6 people (including 4 women) who had left from Achakar at 7:30am local time. At 10:45am we managed to make contact with the boat. Over the next few hours we received updated GPS coordinates, until at 2:12pm we were told they were with SM which was later confirmed by our contact person.