Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 30th of January 2023

Case name: 2023_01_30-ATL005

Situation: 60 people in distress in the Atlantic Ocean, rescued by Salvamento Maritimo to Fuerteventura

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Atlantic Ocean

Summary of the Case: In the evening of Monday the 30th of January 2023 the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of 60 travelers, including 7 women and 4 children in distress in the Atlantic Ocean. The relative informed us about a second boat traveling near the first one. We decided to open another case for the second boat. The travelers on that boat had left from Boujdour, Morocco at 5 o’clock local time that same morning. We were able to establish a direct contact to the travelers and they forwarded us their current GPS position, then the connection got very bad and the line got cut.

We relayed all the information we had to the Spanish Search and Rescue organization Salvamento Maritimo via E-Mail. When calling Salvamento Maritimo around midnight they had localized the two boats and launched a rescue mission. We were not able to reach the travelers of this group again. We informed the relative about the current situation. Around 2 o’clock we called Salvamento Maritimo again to ask about the estimated time of arrival of the rescue vessels. They confirmed that they will arrive soon. Also on vessel finder we could locate a rescue vessel “Salvamar Nizar” heading to the direction of the last received position of the travelers.

The next morning at 7 o’clock we saw on vessel finder that the rescue vessel “Salvamar Nizar” was close to Fuerteventura. Later on in the morning we called Salvamento Maritimo who confirmed the successful rescue of two boats, but would not give us further information. Therefore we called other Spanish authorities who confirmed the rescue of 116 people on two boats, matching nationalities with the travelers we were in contact with, to Fuerteventura.