Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 13th of April 2016

Case name: 2016_04_13-WM89
Situation: Alarm Phone informed about 28 travellers in distress in Western Med, near El Hoceima/Morocco
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Thursday the 13th of April 2016 at 10.07am, the Alarm Phone was informed via Facebook about a boat in distress north of the Moroccan coast in the Western Mediterranean Sea. With 28 travellers on board, the boat’s engine had stopped and the travellers tried to get back to the Moroccan coast. We contacted one of our informants and learned that the travellers had called him in the early morning at around 6am after they had started from El Hoceima/Morocco at about 4am. They were in severe distress. Apparently, the Moroccan coastguard had been informed but not reacted. Although we were not able to directly contact the travellers, we decided to call the Spanish rescue organization Salvamento Maritimo (S.M.) and the Moroccan coastguard at about midday. S.M. in Almería/Spain told us that they had been already informed about the boat in distress and that they were searching for it with a helicopter. Beyond that, we were also told that the Moroccan authorities were also searching for the boat. Afterwards, we called the Moroccan Maritime Rescue Centre and learned that they had a patrol vessel in the region and were waiting for news from the Spanish helicopter. We also informed both agencies, the UNHCR and the CEAR about this distress case via e-mail. At 1.10pm, we observed on marinetraffic.com that a Spanish SAR helicopter was indeed searching in the region of El Hoceima, where the travellers had started. In another call to S.M. in Almería/Spain at 1.30pm, we were told that the boat had probably reached the Moroccan shore again, but that the Spanish rescue organization was still waiting for confirmation. At 1.40pm, we again called the Moroccan Maritime Rescue Centre and received contradicting information: we were told that the Spanish helicopter had left, but that the Moroccan patrol vessel was waiting for another plane to continue with searching for the boat. At 2pm we were finally able to speak to one of the contact persons who had initially alerted us to this boat in distress. He confirmed to us that the travellers were back at the Moroccan coast and that the Moroccan police was with them. Afterwards, we tried to get further information about the group and their well-being with the help of contacts in Morocco. We learned that the NGO AMDH was with the travellers, but that at least the men were likely to be deported to the south of Morocco, while the women would probably be set free.