Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 26th October 2022

Case name: 2022_10_26-ATL127

Situation: 45 travellers in distress in the Atlantic Ocean, probably shipwrecked with no survivors.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Atlantic Ocean

Summary of the case: On Wednesday the 26th of October 2022, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of 45 travellers, including 15 women and seven children, in distress in the Atlantic Ocean. The travellers had left from Dakhla in the morning of the 23rd of October at around 05.00 CEST. We were not able to reach the travellers, but relayed all the information we had to the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo. Though we continued trying to reach the travellers over the following days, they remained unreachable and we could see that they were also not in contact with others as the credit of their satellite phone did not change. Salvamento Maritimo confirmed that they were looking for the boat, but without success. We stayed in contact with relatives of the travellers who became increasingly worried as time passed. From Salvamento Maritimo we learned about rescues in the Atlantic, but none of the rescued boats matched the description we had received. On the 1st of November the relative still had no news of the travellers, and neither Spanish nor Moroccan authorities had any information about the boat being rescued or intercepted.

When the travellers had been missing for nine days, the relative informed us that they had heard that the boat had shipwrecked and that there were no survivors. We were not able to confirm this with the authorities. Our thoughts and solidarity are with the friends and families of those missing, and we once again demand safe passages for all as the only way to avoid these unnecessary deaths at sea.

Tweets about the case: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1587432020241776641