Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 4th of July 2019Case name: 2019_07_04-WM401
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to emergency situations in the Western Med
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea
Summary of the Cases: On Thursday, the 4th of July, the Alarm Phone was alerted to two boats trying to reach Spain. The first boat carried seven people (including one woman) from Tangier and was later intercepted by the Moroccan Navy. The second boat with 57 people on board, including four women, left from Nador, and was also later returned to Morocco by its navy.
Case 1: At 5.45h CEST, our shift team was alerted by a contact person to a boat in distress off the coast of Morocco. We received a phone number and were able to establish a direct contact with the travellers at 6h. They were 7 people, including 1 woman, and rowing. We tried to obtain further information and at 7.10h, we received an updated GPS position. However, already shortly after, we received the information that they had been intercepted by the Moroccan Navy.
Case 2: At 14.30h, a contact person alerted us to a second boat, carrying 57 people, including 4 women, who had left from Nador during the night. Contact to the boat had been lost several hours earlier. We attempted to receive further information about this boat, including its GPS position but were never able to do so. At 18.14h, we spoke to the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) and they informed us that they were already searching for this boat with two airplanes. At 20.30h, SM had no update on the situation but were still searching for the boat. Again at 23.39h, SM stated that they had not yet found the boat. However, at 2.40h in the night, SM stated that they had detected the rubber boat close to the Moroccan coast. They would alert the Moroccan Navy to rescue it. At 3.24am, MRCC Rabat confirmed to us that they had received the position of the boat by Spain and that they would send a vessel toward its position. At 8.25h, MRCC Rabat confirmed the rescue of the boat in question.
Last update: 18:49 Jul 10, 2019
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