Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 23rd of September 2022

Case name: 2022_09_23-ATL114

Situation: 25 travelers, all men in distress in the Atlantic Ocean, intercepted by the Moroccan Navy

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: East Atlantic Ocean

Summary of the Case: On Friday the 23rd of September 2022, in the late evening the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of 25 travelers, all men from Morocco, in distress in the Atlantic Ocean. The travelers had left on a zodiac boat in the evening two days before (21st of September) from Kenitra, Morocco. We directly relayed the information to the Spanish search and rescue organization Salvamento Maritimo. The following hours and days we constantly tried but were not able to establish a direct contact to the travelers. After two days without any news from the relative nor Salvamento Maritimo, nor the Moroccan Navy we tweeted concerning this and three other boats in the Atlantic Ocean: “As #TropicalStorm #Hermine hits the #CanaryIslands 4 boats to which we were alerted are in distress in the #Atlantic. ~200 people, incl. children, are on their way to the islands & face adverse weather conditions. Authorities are alerted and we expect swift rescue operations” (21:54 CEST, 25th of September https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1574125195568287750:). Since we were not able to reach the travelers the next day nor match it with arrivals in Spain the 26th of September at 14:06 CEST we tweeted again: "We still don't know the whereabouts of the 4 boats to which we were alerted on the #CanaryRoute. There is no contact to any of them. Competent authorities are only sharing vague information about their activities & are not confirming any rescue. Where are these people?" (https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1574369778566942720).

That same evening we learned from the relative that the travelers were all safe and back to Morocco, it remained unclear which day and which hour they had bee intercepted by the Moroccan navy.