Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 20th of September 2022

Case name: 2022_09_20-ATL106

Situation: 58 people in distress at the Atlantic Ocean, intercepted by the Moroccan navy
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Atlantic Ocean

Summary of the Case:

On Tuesday the 20th of September 2022, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted in the night by a relative to a group of 58 travelers, including 14 women and six children, in distress in the Atlantic Ocean. The travelers had left the same night at around 03.00 CEST from TanTan towards the Canary Islands on a grey boat. We could establish direct contact to the travelers, who told us their current GPS position and asked for urgent help. The given information about the boat were relayed via E-Mail and phone to the Spanish search and rescue organization Salvamento Maritimo. Until 6:00 CEST we constantly stayed in contact with the travelers. They reported water entering their boat and with more time panic rose among them. They were urgently asking for rescue. We kept relaying those information to Salvamento Maritimo and forwarding them to the relative. At 06:13 CEST we reached Salvamento Maritimo, who told us that the Moroccan navy was in charge and would launch a rescue operation. Until midday we were not able to establish a connection to the people on the boat again, nor received any new information from the coast guards or the relative. At 17:25 CEST the Moroccan navy confirmed that they had rescued a boat with 59 people, the other exchanged information matched to this case.