Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – September 6th 2020
Case name: 2020_09_06-WM479
Situation: 54 people rescued to Las Palmas, 42 people rescued by SM Almería
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary

On September 6th Alarmphone was alerted to two boats in distress, one carrying between 50 and 55 people which was rescued by authorities in Las Palmas, the second carrying 42 people, rescued by authorities in Almería.

Summary of Case 1

In the early morning of September 6th a relative of a person on a boat alerted Alarmphone about a boat in distress carrying 54 people, headed to the Canary islands. Upon calling authorities in Las Palmas the answering officer confirmed a search for this case was already underway, and would continue in daylight. The relative who had alerted us to the case forwarded phone numbers of people on the boat, which we relayed to authorites at 01.35 CEST. At 07.39 CEST the boat had not been found by authorities. Neither alarmphone nor the relative had been able to establish contact throughout the night, and could not reach the people throughout September 6th. We called authorities in Las Palmas for an update on the rescue mission at 21.50 CEST, when they confirmed that they had found a boat carrying around 50 people. At 00.13 CEST September 7th the rescue of this boat was confirmed by authorities in Las Palmas.

Summary of Case 2

In the evening hours of September 6th Alarmphone received information about a boat carrying 42 people, including 11 women and one child. The relatives who called us had lost contact to the boat around 07.00 CEST the same day. We informed authorities in Almería of this case at 21.19 CEST, who confirmed all details and informed us that a rescue operation was ongoing. We were unable to establish contact to the people on the boat to confirm the rescue. However, since all details forwarded to us by the relative match those of the boat rescued by SM Almería we assume the people to have been rescued.