Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 24th of July 2016

Case name: 2016_07_24-WM109
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 1 emergency situation in the Western Med
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Sunday the 24th of July 2016, the WatchTheMed Alarm Phone was alerted to one distress situation in the Western Mediterranean Sea. At 7.35am we received a call from a contact person but it was impossible to properly communicate. When listening to the recorded call we could make out that the caller had tried to alert us to a friend of his who was travelling on a boat. At 8.17am we were finally able to re-establish communications with the contact person and we found out that he knew about a boat carrying about 10 people. We also received a phone number of one of the passengers but it was unclear when and where they had left. At 8.39am we were able to get through to the travellers on the boat. They told us that they had left from a certain location in Tangier toward Tarifa and were in need of rescue. We passed on the details to the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo and they took on the case. Shortly afterwards we found out that they were in fact 7 people who had left at about 2am. At 9.33am, Salvamento Maritimo confirmed to us that they were in direct contact with the boat and had sent a rescue vessel as well as a helicopter. We informed the travellers about the ongoing rescue operation and urged them to stay calm. At 10.15am we learned that the travellers could see the helicopter. At 10.55am Salvamento Maritimo confirmed that all 7 people had been rescued by the helicopter and were being brought to Spain. Shortly afterwards we also informed our initial contact person about the good news.