Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 8th of December 2017

Case name: 2017_12_08-WM194
Situation: 35 travellers leaving from Nador, intercepted by the Moroccan Navy
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean
Summary of the Case:

On Friday, the 8th of December, at 9.05am, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a contact person to 35 travellers, amongst them four women and two children, on their way from Nador to Spain. We reached the travellers, who informed us that their engine was not working, and asked us to call the coast guard. At 9.48am we called the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) and passed on the information we had. At 10.03am we spoke to the travellers again. They told us that water was now entering the boat. They tried to send us their position, but due to poor reception, this was not possible. At 10.40am the contact person asked us to alert the Moroccan rescue authorities, as the boat was losing air, and people started panicking, so at 10.42am we passed on the information we had to MRCC Rabat. We called back SM at 10.43am to find out about new developments in the case. They informed us that a Frontex vessel as well as an aircraft were searching for the boat. In several calls with the travellers they informed us about a vessel they could see, which they described as a navy vessel. The vessel stopped before getting close to the travellers, and left the scene again. We immediately called SM to pass on this information, which could be useful in order to localise the travellers. At 12.12pm we talked to the travellers again. They could no longer see the vessel, but told us that there was an aircraft above them, which we also informed SM about. When we talked to SM, they told us that the Moroccan authorities would take over the search and rescue operation, as the travellers were in Moroccan waters. At 1.04pm we called MRCC Rabat, who confirmed that they had already sent a rescue vessel to the position. Neither we, nor the contact person were able to reach the travellers anymore, but in a call to MRCC Rabat at 2.43pm, they informed us that they were carrying out the rescue operation. When we called them back at 5.03pm, they confirmed that the rescue had been carried out, and that all the travellers were safe. This was shortly after confirmed by the contact person.