Case name: 2015_10_03-WM61
Situation: 28 people in distress in the Western Mediterranean Sea, rescued to Spain
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Saturday the 3rd of October 2015, at 3.50pm, our shift team was called from someone in Morocco who informed us about a vessel that had left from Nador/Morocco the evening before, at about 10pm. There were 28 people on the boat, including 3 women, one of whom was pregnant. Only minutes later we received another call from a Moroccan phone number and the second contact person informed us about the same vessel. We informed the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo about the situation at 4.17pm. The Spanish authorities told us at 4.47pm that they had detected a rubber vessel that fit our description and would launch a rescue operation shortly. We agreed to speak to them again 4 hours later to confirm the rescue. Afterwards we informed our contact person about the situation. At 5.33pm we reached the group of travellers directly and spoke to a woman who was clearly in panic. We told them to stay calm and wait for the rescue vessel. At 6.50pm we learned through one of the contact persons that the travellers had seen an airplane above them and we passed this information on to Salvamento via email. We spoke to Salvamento again at 7.26pm who were worried about the case as they had, in fact, not located the vessel and it had turned dark in the meantime. The contact person called us repeatedly, expressing how worried he was. He also told us at 7.45pm that he had even informed the Moroccan Navy which refused to search for the vessel as they said that it would probably be in Spanish waters already. At 8pm we received an email from Salvamento in which they told us that the vessel had been sighted by a rescue aircraft approximately 11 miles off the Moroccan Coast. They would send a vessel to that location. We then informed our contact person who in turn informed that travellers. They said that they could see a vessel in vicinity as well as an airplane above them. Afterwards we were unable to contact the travellers directly but received confirmation of their rescue through Salvamento at 10.30pm. We then also informed the contact person about the good news. During the day, 188 people were rescued by the Spanish authorities (source 1).