Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations 3rd of August 2015

Case name: 2015_08_02/03-WM36
Situation: 3 vessels in distress, one rescued to Spain, two intercepted in Morocco
Status of WTM Investigations: Concluded
Place of Incidents: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Sunday the 2nd of August, in the afternoon, the Alarm Phone was contacted by someone who knew of a vessel in distress in the Western Mediterranean Sea. Following his account, 17 people, including 2 women and 2 children, had left Tangier/Morocco in the early hours of the day. A few minutes later we learned that the travellers could see a vessel of the Moroccan Navy. Further information could, at first, not be obtained and it seemed likely that they were shortly afterwards intercepted and returned to Morocco.

On the 3rd of August, at approximately 5.30am, our shift team received a distress call from Morocco. The travellers reported that they had left a few hours earlier and were 7 people in total, including a 3 year old child. They said that water was entering their vessel. We turned to the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo and forwarded, as previously agreed, the mobile phone number of one of the passengers. After speaking to the travellers themselves, Salvamento Maritimo stated that they still were in Moroccan waters. As the travellers asked us to also alert the Moroccan Navy, we reached out to them and they stated that they had already been informed by Salvamento Maritimo about the situation. Afterwards, the passengers could not be reached anymore. In the morning of the following day, the Moroccan Navy confirmed the interception of 2 vessels, one of which was the vessel in question.

At approximately 7.30am, we were notified about another distress situation in the Western Med. They had left Morocco in the early morning and were 7 people in total. In a phone conversation they said that they had lost orientation but were still able to see the Spanish coast. At about 8.45am, we spoke to Salvamento Maritimo which told us that they had rescued a group of 7 people a few minutes earlier and it seemed highly likely that this was the vessel in question. The travellers could not be reached anymore. In the afternoon Salvamento confirmed that they had been rescued and were disembarked in Tarifa/Spain. They also stated that two other vessels had been intercepted by the Moroccan authorities which was later also confirmed by the travellers themselves.