Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 21st of August 2020
Case name: 2020_08_21-WM476
Situation: 15 travelers (one woman) started from Bouyafar, Morocco, 6 travelers started from Al Hoceima, Morocco, all rescued to Motril, Spain. Spanish authorities delay the release of information.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Cases:

Case 1:
On 21st August at 03:13h CEST, the Alarm Phone was contacted by a worried relative of a person on a boat in distress. The group had started from Bouyafar, Morocco, at 19:00h on 20th August in a blue rubber boat. At 03:20h, our shift team tried to call the travelers, but could not reach them. At 03:25h, we informed the Spanish maritime rescue organization Salvamento Marítimo (SM) in Almería. They informed us about the rescue of a group of twelve people and an ongoing search operation for ten or twelve people. For more information, we should call the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) Madrid. We did so at 03:33h and learned that the boat that had already been rescued, was a red one, not carrying a woman, so this was not the boat we had been informed about. For the ongoing search operation, we could not confirm it was the same boat, because the phone numbers on board did not match. At 03:45h, we sent our information to the Spanish authorities via a-mail. During the night and the next day, we could not reach the travelers, neither could the relative who had contacted us. At 17:18h, we received the information from the Spanish Servicio Marítimo of Granada, that around 11:00h, a group of 15 persons, among them one woman, had been rescued and brought to Motril. Later, the relative came back to us and confirmed the rescue from the travelers’ side.

Case 2:
At 04:43h CEST, the Alarm Phone was informed about a second boat in distress, carrying approximately five people. They had left from Al Hoceima, Morocco, and had run out of fuel close to the Spanish shore, between Motril and Malaga. The relative who had contacted us, did not know their GPS location. At 04:57h, we tried to contact the travelers, but they were not available. At 05:06h, we called SM Almería, passing them the information we had, also via e-mail. We agreed to keep them updated if we received more information. We regularly tried to get through to the travelers, but without success. At 07:32h, our shift team called the Spanish Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) in Madrid and learned about two ongoing rescue missions, one of them for a boat with five persons. We informed the relative about this, who was very relieved that a rescue of their loved ones seemed to be conceivable. At 08:32h, we called the MRCC in Madrid again, asking for an update and received conflicting information, saying that they were still searching. When we said that one hour ago, we had received the information that there was an ongoing rescue, they refused to clarify. At 08:50h, we talked to SM Almería but did not receive clear information. At 09:02h, we talked to SM Tarifa, and the officer confirmed there were two ongoing rescue missions, one for a group of five people. For more information, they referred us to SM Almería. When we called them again at 09:21h, they stated they could not give us information. It continued like this during the day, one authority referring to another authority, without providing information about the outcome of their operations and the whereabouts of the people. At 17:18h, the Servicio Maritímo of Granada confirmed the rescue of 6 persons around 11:00h in the morning. We concluded this was the boat we had been informed about.