Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigation – 6th of May 2015

Case name: 2015_05_06-WM5
Situation: 43 people on a rubber vessel trying to reach the Canary Islands
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: In the afternoon of the 6th of May 2015, the shift team of the Alarm Phone received a call from someone located in Morocco who informed us that friends of his had left the Moroccan city of Tan-Tan at 2am in the morning and were travelling on a rubber vessel, seeking to reach Lanzarote. There were approximately 43 persons on the vessel, amongst them 3-4 women. The contact person stated that he had already informed the Spanish rescue agency Salvamento Maritimo in the morning. He passed on a phone number from one of the travellers and asked the shift team to also alert Salvamento Maritimo.

The shift team attempted to contact the passengers but nobody seemed to pick up. We then turned to Salavamento Maritimo in Las Palmas who informed us that they had found a vessel already. They were very cooperative and provided further details about the number of travellers, the type of vessel, and its location about 70 nautical miles away from Lanzarote. They also stated that an airplane was monitoring the vessel and that a rescue vessel had already been sent out to conduct a rescue operation. The shift team passed on the phone number of one of the passengers.

We then reached out to our initial contact person and passed on the details of the vessel in order to verify whether this was actually the vessel in question. The caller confirmed the information so that it seemed very likely to be the same vessel.

In the evening the shift team contacted Salvamento Maritimo once again and they confirmed around 8pm that the rescue operation had been successfully conducted only moments earlier. All 43 people had been rescued and were safe.

The shift team then informed the contact person who was really relieved and promised to stay in touch to provide further information about the well-being of the passengers.