Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 3rd January 2021
Case name: 2021_01_03-WM548
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to one boat with 71 travellers from Laayoune, rescued and brought to Fuerteventura.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of case: On Sunday the 3rd of January in the late afternoon, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of 71 travellers, including seven women (of which one pregnant) and three children, in distress. The travellers had left from Laayoune the same morning at 02.00 CET and were heading towards Fuerteventura. At 11.00 CET the relative had lost contact to the travellers, and our shift team never managed to establish a direct contact to the boat. At 17.30 we sent an email to the Spanish rescue authorities Salvamento Maritimo, alerting them to the distress of the travellers and forwarding all the information we had. In addition we alerted them by phone shortly after. In the phone call they confirmed to us that they were preparing a search operation with an aircraft. At 20.30 we called Salvamento Maritimo again, and they informed us that they had detected a boat with their aircraft 20 km off the coast of Fuerteventura, and that their rescue vessel had just commenced a rescue operation. An hour later they confirmed to us that the rescue had been carried out successfully and that the 71 travellers would disembark in Gran Tarajal, Fuerteventura.
At 23.44 the relative also confirmed to us that the travellers had arrived.