Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 13th October 2022

Case name: 2022_10_13-ATL123

Situation: 52 travellers in distress in the Atlantic Ocean, 22 drowned while the remaining 30 were intercepted by the Moroccan navy.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Atlantic Ocean

Summary of the case: On Thursday the 13th of October 2022, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of 52 travellers, including five women and two children, in distress in the Atlantic Ocean. The travellers had left from between Tan Tan and Guelmim on the 11th of October at around 23.00 CEST on a grey boat. We were not able to reach the travellers directly, but alerted the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo to the distress situation. Salvamento Maritimo told us that they had been alerted to this distress case already the previous day and the Moroccan rescue authorities were coordinating the search and rescue operation. We therefore contacted the Moroccan authorities who confirmed that they were carrying out a rescue operation of a boat with around 50 travellers. However, we later learned that only 30 travellers had been intercepted by the Moroccan navy while 22 travellers had drowned. Rescue arrived a day after the authorities were first alerted to the distress situation, and it is very likely that these deaths could have been prevented if a focused search operation had been launched immediately. This again proves that the Moroccan navy fails to live up to search and rescue standards and should not be relied upon by European authorities to rescue people in distress as they are first and foremost a military unit. All our thoughts and solidarity are with the friends and families of those who have lost their lives at sea as well as with the survivors who had to endure this traumatic experience.

Tweets about the case:

https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1580961996035739650