Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 16th January 2022

Case name: 2022_01_16-ATL009

Situation: 55 travellers in distress in the Atlantic Sea, authorities delayed rescue for 11 hours before intervening, at which point it was too late. According to our information only 10 travellers survived, while 45 lost their lives.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Atlantic Sea

Summary: On Sunday the 16th of January 2022, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of 55 travellers, including several women and children, in distress in the Atlantic Sea. The travellers had left from Tarfaya at midnight, heading towards the Canary Islands. We were not immediately able to establish a direct contact to the boat, but relayed all the information we had to the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo. They confirmed to us that a search and rescue operation was in progress. At 05.07 CET we managed to speak to the travellers. Communication was difficult as the connection was bad and the travellers were panicking. In a second call to the travellers they told us that their engine was no longer working and that water was entering their boat. We managed to get their GPS position which we relayed to both the Moroccan and Spanish rescue authorities. We stayed in contact with the boat, and could hear that the travellers’ panic persisted as the situation deteriorated. The travellers told us that some people had fallen into the water. We kept updating the authorities about the pressing situation onboard and urged Salvamento Maritimo to assist the rescue operation. For 11 hours, the Moroccan rescue authorities refused to confirm that a rescue operation had been launched. At 09.50 CET, after receiving the information that three of the travellers had already died, we lost contact to the boat. At 12.55 CET Salvamento Maritimo told us that a Moroccan fishing vessel had been instructed to rescue to boat. At 14.20 CET the Moroccan rescue authorities confirmed this, estimating that the vessel should reach the last known position of the travellers within an hour. At 16.02 CET we were informed that he Moroccan vessel was on scene but did not manage to find the travellers, and at 17.30 that they had found the travellers’ boat overturned. Only then was the Moroccan navy deployed to look for survivors and bodies. In the evening, the Moroccan rescue authorities told us that so far, they had found six women and four men alive as well as two dead women. We never got information about other bodies recovered, and have to assume that the remaining 45 travellers also lost their lives. For at least 11 hours, the authorities were aware of the distress situation without intervening. We denounce this violent prolonged non-assistance from both Morocco and Spain which lead to the death of these travellers.

Tweets:
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1482674743912316932

https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1482716438142062595

https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1482789258041733127