Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 10th of September 2020
Case name: 2020_09_10-WM481
Situation: 4 people leave from Tangier 1 dies, 3 are rescued by the Moroccan Navy; 3 people on a jet ski rescued to Tarifa.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:
Position:
Case 1
Shortly before 04:00 CEST on 10 September we were contacted by a relative of some travellers who had departed from Tangier the evening before. They were alerting us to a boat which had been carrying four people. The travellers were exhausted and one had already died. The boat had no motor and they had been rowing to the point of exhaustion for around 16 hours. The relatives gave us a phone number of somebody on board and fortunately we were able to make contact with the boat. They gave us a GPS-position. It was just south of the Spanish Search and Rescue zone. We contacted the Spanish search and rescue organisation, Salvamento Maritimo, and passed them the position. We also contacted the Moroccan Navy, but they told us they had already been informed by Salvamento Maritimo.

At about 07:30, we were contacted by another relative who told us that shortly after our call to the boat, he had been contacted by the travellers who told him that the boat was deflating. We continued trying to reach the travellers and stayed in touch with the relatives and the authorities. At 07:57 we called MRCC Rabat. They told us that they had rescued a boat at 05:45 CEST from close to the position which we had given them. At around 09:30 we were able to confirm that three of the travellers were indeed back in Morocco. Another life senselessly taken by Europe’s inhuman border.

Case 2
At around 19:30 that evening, we were contacted by a relative of somebody who, along with two friends, had left Morocco heading for Motril on a jet ski. We contacted Salvamento Maritimo in Algeciras who instructed us to contact Salvamento Maritimo in Tarifa. Salvamento Maritimo Tarifa had rescued three people on a jet ski. We continued to search for confirmation that the people rescued were the ones we were looking for. We were able to get confirmation from Salvamento Maritimo at around midday the following day. Boza, welcome to Europe.