Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 23rd July 2021

Case name: 2021_07_23-WM652

Situation: 5 travellers in distress between Tangier and Tarifa for many hours before they were finally intercepted by the Moroccan navy.


Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary

On Monday the 23rd of July at 23.22 CEST the Alarm Phone shift team was contacted by a relative who alerted us about five people who were in distress in the Strait of Gibraltar. The travellers had left the previous day at 20.00 CEST from a beach south of Tangier on a boat without a motor, rowing towards the Spanish coast. We tried many times to reach the travellers via normal calls and WhatsApp, and at 00.02 CEST we managed to communicate directly with the travellers. They told us that they were in distress, that they had run out of food and water and needed urgent assistance. At 00.48 CEST we sent an email to all relevant authorities informing them about the distress of the travellers. Just after sending the email we additionally called the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo who confirmed to us on the phone that they would send rescue. 15 minutes later we spoke to the travellers again. They told us that they were exhausted and sick and not able to row any further. They could see many vessels around them but were not able to approach for rescue. We again called Salvamento Maritimo to pass on this information. However, they told us that they had passed on the information about the case to the Moroccan authorities and were waiting for them to assume responsibility and carry out search and rescue. We stayed in communication with the people on the boat who became more and more desperate during the night as they were drifting in the darkness, feeling sick and exhausted. Throughout the night, we continued sending updated GPS positions and other information to Salvamento Maritimo as we received this from the travellers. At 02.24 we published the case in a tweet:
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1418723611423252482?s=21
SOS from Tangier! 5 people are spending their 2nd night at sea in a paddle boat. They are exhausted & asking for help. We informed @salvamentogob but they are too busy trying to figure out if it's their responsability or not. Don't let them drown & coordinate a SAR operation NOW

At 02.55 CEST we asked Salvamento Maritimo for an update on search and rescue efforts. They told us again that they were handing over responsibilities to the Moroccan rescue authorities, but that they we slow in responding. Our shift team urged them to assume responsibility in the absence of another competent rescue authority in order to save the lives of the people in distress, but without success. At 04.14 CEST Salvamento Maritimo confirmed to us that the Moroccan navy would carry out search and rescue, but when we called the Moroccan rescue coordination centre a few minutes later, they told us that they would not be searching before it became light. After this point we were never again able to reach the boat and neither was the relative who had first alerted us.
At 07.43 CEST we spoke to Salvamento Maritimo again, and they told us that the boat had been rescued by they Moroccan navy. The Moroccan authorities were not immediately able to confirm this, but at 09.28 CEST they informed us that they had indeed intercepted the boat.

At 10:56 CEST we published a tweet closing the case: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1418857682174361602
After many hours with no answer from MRCC Rabat, they now confirmed us that the 5 men were intercepted. They were brought back to #Morocco, the place they were fleeing from.