Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 1st of February 2023

Case name: 2023_02_01-WM004

Situation: 52 people in distress at the Alboran Sea rescued by Salvamento Maritimo to Malaga

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Alborran Sea

Summary of the Case: In the afternoon of Wednesday the 1st of February 2023 the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of said 55 travelers on a green fishing boat in distress in the Alboran Sea. The travelers had left from Al Hoceima, Morocco at 7:30 that same day. We were not able to establish a direct contact to the travelers. We relayed all the information we had to the Spanish Search and Rescue organization Salvamento Maritimo via E-Mail. Until the next afternoon we learned nothing new about the situation of this group of people. Since Salvamento Maritimo was not forwarding any new information to us we tried to find information through contacting different authorities and the Red Cross. During this research we found an article on Lavanguardia, reporting about the rescue of a boat with 52 people: https://www.lavanguardia.com/local/sevilla/20230202/8727215/medio-centenar-magrebies-rescatados-patera-23-millas-caleta-velez-malaga.html. During the next hours we still did not received any confirmation of a rescue through Salvamento Maritimo. We assumed, that the rescued 52 people mentioned in the article could be the same case, but might also be the ones from another case the shift team was alerted in the night from 1st to 2nd February. In the afternoon of the 2nd February the relative who contacted us about those travelers confirmed that they were rescued to Malaga, Spain and had actually been a group of 52 people. The probability that we were alerted by two different relatives about only one group, counting 52 people is high.