Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations - 18th of February 2018

Case name: 2018_02_18-WM207
Situation: 2 persons left from Morocco, rescued by the Moroccan Marine Royale
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Sunday the 18th of February 2018 at 4.17am, the Alarm Phone was directly called from a Moroccan number. After the call was interrupted, we called back and learned from a contact person that two persons had left two hours earlier from a beach near Tangier/Morocco and were still on the water. At 4.29am, we tried to call the travellers, but were not able to speak to them. Because the contact person had asked us to alert the Spanish rescue organization Salvamento Maritimo (S.M.), we called them at 4.37am. They were already informed about the case and were looking for the travellers with a rescue vessel. Yet, they supposed that they were still close to the Moroccan coast. At 5.05am, we talked to the contact person again, who told us that the two travellers were in severe distress and had asked to call the Moroccan Marine Royale. We called the Moroccan Marine at 5.08am, and they confirmed to us that they were also searching for the travellers in distress. In another call with S.M. at 5.26am, we learned that they were still looking for the boat but have not found it yet. At 5.32am, the contact person called us again and informed us that the two travellers have been rescued by the Moroccan Marine Royale.