Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 13th of February 2020
Case name: 2020_02_13-WM453
Situation: Seven people left from Algeria, rescued by Salvamento Marítimo to Almería
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:
On 13 February 2020 at 00.46h CET we received a call from a relative of a man who was travelling on a small boat. The relative told us that the boat had left from Ghazouet, Algeria in the early hours of 12 February at around 04.00h local time. There were 7 travellers on board heading in the direction of Almería.

They gave us two phone numbers for those on the boat but we were unable to make contact through these.

At 02.40h we called the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Marítimo (SM). We did not have an exact location as we had not been able to get through to those on the boat, but we passed SM all the information we had, agreeing with them that we would ring back again in the morning.

We continued trying to call the numbers we had been given for the people on the boat until 09.20h but with no success.

At 09.40h we called SM again to ask if they had any new information but they did not.

The relative contacted us again at 11.30h and informed us that they also had no new information.

We continued trying to call the numbers of the travellers on the boat and checking in with the relative until 08.40h the next day (14 February 2020) but still had no further news. We then emailed SM again who told us that they also had no updates they could give us. The relatives were very anxious and contacting us often to find out if any more news had come but sadly we had none to give them at this point.

At 19.35h later that day we called SM again who again told us they had no new information.

At 20.10h we finally received news from the relative that they had heard from the travellers and that they were in Almería.

At 20.30h the relative told us that they had contacted the Algerian coastguard who had confirmed with them that the 7 travellers had been rescued to Almería. They had been informed that SM had first seen the boat at 05.00h, and had rescued them at around 12.00h.

At 21.35h we received further confirmation that the seven travellers had arrived to Almería and were sent a photo via whats app of their arrival. BOZA.