Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 04th October 2022

Case name: 2022_10_04-ATL119

Situation: 53 travellers in distress in the Atlantic Ocean, three missing the rest intercepted by the Moroccan navy.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Atlantic Ocean

Summary of the case: On Tuesday the 4th of October 2022, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group on 53 travellers, 36 men, 13 women and four children, in distress in the Atlantic Ocean. The travellers had just set off from around Boujdour on a grey rubber boat and were in urgent distress. We managed to reach the boat and get their GPS position, which we immediately relayed to the Spanish search and rescue organisations Salvamento Maritimo as well as the Moroccan search and rescue authorities. We stayed in close contact with the travellers who were adrift as their engine had broken down. Additionally they told us that water was entering their boat. We relayed the updated position of the travellers to the authorities as often as possible. At 10.10 CEST the travellers told us that three people had fallen overboard and disappeared. There was still no rescue vessel with them. We relayed this information to the authorities, but were not able to obtain any information about ongoing search and rescue efforts. Soon after, the travellers told us that a fishing vessel had arrived. Some hours later, the Moroccan rescue authorities informed us that the travellers were onboard the fishing vessel and would be brought back to Morocco by the Moroccan navy. They confirmed that three travellers had fallen overboard and disappeared before the fishing vessel arrived. We are sad and angry about these unnecessary deaths at the European external border which could easily have been prevented, had people had access to safe and legal passage. Our solidarity and thoughts are with the victims, their friends and families, and all the other travellers who had to endure this traumatic experience.