Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 21st August 2021

Case name: 2021_08_21-WM675

Situation: 41 people stranded on the Spanish islet Isla de Tierra pulled back by the Moroccan navy without access to apply for asylum, then deported further south in Morocco.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary: On Saturday the 21st of August 2021, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by relatives to a group of 41 people consisting of six children, 15 men and 20 women of which three pregnant, in distress in the Alboran Sea. The travellers had left from around Al Hoceima. At 08.11 CEST we managed to reach the travellers who told us that they had landed on the Spanish islet off Al Hoceima, Isla de Tierra. We informed the Spanish rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo about the situation of the travellers. At around 13.00 CEST the travellers told us that the Guardia Civil had arrived and wanted to transfer people to a bigger island, and from there maybe to Melilla. The travellers, feared a pushback to Morocco, and told us that they had informed the Guardia Civil that they wanted to apply for asylum. The travellers told us that the Spanish authorities sent reinforcement and that a helicopter arrived. After this, we lost contact to the travellers and only later learned from their relatives and Spanish media that they had been pulled back to Morocco without respecting their right to apply for asylum and without even providing translation for them to understand their situation. One of the survivors of this incident told us some days later that the Moroccan navy had come to the islet and taken the group back to Morocco where they were deported away from the border region by bus, to a town close to Marrakesh. In addition, they told us that the Moroccan police had stolen their phone during this operation.