Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 20th of September 2022
Case name: 2022_09_20- ATL919
Situation: 35 travelers in distress in the eastern part of the Atlantic Ocean, outcome not concludedStatus of WTM Investigation: Unclear
Place of Incident: Atlantic Ocean
Summary of the Case:
On Tuesday the 20th of September 2022, in the morning the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a direct phone call to a group of 35 travelers, including pregnant women and children, in distress in the eastern part of the Atlantic ocean. Due to the bad connection it remained unclear where in Morocco they had left from. The travelers were heading towards Cadiz, Spain. After this call we constantly tried to establish a connection again via phone calls and What’s App to ask about a concrete GPS position and more details. Since we were not able to find out more information we decided to alert the Spanish search and rescue organization Salvamento Maritimo the following early morning, 21st of September. Salvamento Maritimo Tarifa/ Cadiz suggested the boat might have been intercepted by the Moroccan navy but it remained unclear if they were talking about the same boat. At 07.22 CEST Salvamento Maritimo called us and informed us about 44 people, including 5 minors, 1 woman, who arrived the 20th of September at Cadiz beach. Salvamento Maritimo suggested that it is the same boat but when we tried to confirm this suggestion with the phone number we had, they were not willing to forward us this specific information. The tries to reach the travelers again remained unsuccessful. Due to the lack of information we were not able to confirm the outcome of this case.