Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations –17th May 2021
Case name: 2021_05_17-WM610
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to a group of travellers in urgent distress close to the beach of Tarifa. Eventually we learned they were safely back on land.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the case:
On Monday the 17th of May 2021 in the morning, the Alarm Phone shift team was contacted by a relative who alerted us to a group of travellers in the Strait of Gibraltar. It was never clear exactly how many people were onboard the boat, but according to the relative they were in urgent distress close to the beach of Tarifa. We were not able to reach the travellers directly. At 08.48 CEST we called the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo and forwarded them all information we had about the case. They told us that they were already aware of the situation of the travellers. At 09.41 CEST the relative sent us a position of the travellers showing that they were west of Tarifa, together with photos of people on the inflatable rubber boat. They told us as well that the boat was adrift, unable to move towards the coast on its own. At 10.03 CEST we called Salvamento Maritimo, but as they were very busy with many ongoing distress cases, they asked us to forward information via email. At 10.28 CEST we sent an email to Salvamento Maritimo with the position together with the other information we had received from the relative. Throughout the day and the following night we were not able to reach the travellers or get any more information about their situation. We stayed in contact with the relative, and the following day, on the 18th of March in the evening, they told us that they travellers had been rescued and were on land. It was not possible to establish by whom they had been rescued or where they were taken to.