Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 26th October 2022

Case name: 2022_10_26-ATL128

Situation: 55 travellers in distress in the Atlantic Ocean, fate unknown

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 55 travellers, including five women and two children, in distress in the Atlantic Ocean. The travellers had left from Tan Tan on the 11th of October on a rubber boat, and the relative was very worried. We were not able to reach the travellers but immediately contacted the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo as well as the Moroccan rescue authorities, relaying all the information we had. They were already aware of the boat, and Salvamento Maritimo confirmed that they were searching for it.

Despite continuously trying to reach the travellers, we never managed. We learned of several rescues in the Atlantic during the days and weeks after the boat left, but we were not able to match the boat we had been alerted to to any of those rescued. Neither Spanish nor Moroccan authorities had any new information about the boat. After many days of trying to get news, we had to close the case without knowing the fate of the travellers. We very much hope that they managed to reach shore by themselves, but we fear that they have become victims of Europe’s deadly border policy which forces people to put their lives at risk on these long and dangerous journeys. We therefore demand freedom of movement and safe passages for all as the only solution to end the mass dying at sea.