Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 26th of March 2021

Case name: 20210326-WM577
Situation: 10 travelers (2 minors) left from Oran, Algeria, rescued to Spain by Salvamento Marítimo Almería.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the case:
On the 26th of March at 21:28h CET, the Alarm Phone was called by a group of ten travelers (among them two minors) in distress. They had started from Oran, Algeria at 02:00h CET in the morning of the 26th in a white and blue boat. They said they were 20km away from Almería, Spain, but their engine was not working, and they were all wet and urgently asked for rescue. At 21:45h CET, our shift team called the Spanish Search and Rescue organization Salvamento Marítimo (SM) in Almería to inform them about the distress case and also sent them an e-mail. At 22:23h CET, we received coordinates of the boat. We sent them to SM at 22:24h CET. At 22:58h CET, we talked to the travelers again. They could not see anything around them, but at 23:09h CET, they reported to see a light approach them. At 00:25h CET, we called SM Almería again to ask for an update. They stated they had found a boat with ten people at the given location, and after some discussion, they confirmed that the people would be brought to Spain. During the night, the travelers were not reachable anymore. At 09:25h CET, SM Almería confirmed the rescue of the group and everybody was doing well.