Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 22nd of July 2018
Case name: 2018_07_22-WM293
Situation: 14 boats from Morocco (8 rescued by SM, 4 intercepted, 1 returned on its own, 1 no info)
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
 Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea
 
Summary of the Case: On July 22, 2018, The Alarm Phone was alerted to 14 boats that departed from Morocco.

8 boats were rescued by Salvamento Maritimo. At 3.30 CEST a contact person informed The Alarm Phone of a boat of 11 travellers. The shift team corresponded with Salvamento and at 10.15 received confirmation the travelers had been brought to Spain . A similar situation occurred with another boat of 12 persons that was also brought to Spain. The Alarm Phone was in contact with another boat at 9.45 CEST. The shift team tried to maintain contact throughout the day to make sure the travelers were not in distress, but the service was bad so communication was difficult. At 11.36 the next day, the contact person confirmed that the travelers had been rescued to Spain by Salvamento Maritimo. Another boat of 9 people (including 1 woman) alerted The Alarm Phone that it was brought to Spain at 10.02. The same thing happened regarding a boat of 11 people (including 1 woman). At 9.28 CEST a contact person alerted the shift team of a boat of 12 people (including 2 women). The shift team was directly in touch with the boat and with Salvamento Maritimo. At 12.30, it appeared they had been saved and brought to Spain. Two other boats were also rescued to Spain. One boat had 12 people including a minor and a woman. The shift team was first in touch at 12.09, and at 13.39, the contact person confirmed the boat had been rescued. Similar for a boat with 12 people, including one woman.
 
4 boats were intercepted by the Marine Royale. The Alarm Phone was alerted to a boat with 9 persons and at 9.15 informed Salvamento Maritimo. Although it was originally thought that they would be rescued by Salvamento Maritimo because they saw the boat, a contact person later confirmed that the boat had been intercepted and brought back to Morocco. At 8.10 CEST The Alarm Phone received a call from a boat of 11 people (including 2 women). As they could not give much information, contact was lost until at 14.05, the contact person alerts the shift team that the travelers had been returned safely to Morocco. The Alarm Phone was alerted to a boat of 4 people that left Morocco. The shift team was directly in touch with the boat from 8.33 CEST, and at 10.45 one of the travelers informed the shift team that they were intercepted by the Marine Royale. Finally, the Alarm Phone received news of a boat of 9 people (including 2 women) from a contact person. After some trouble communicating, the travelers call to say that they had been intercepted by the Marine Royale. They confirmed that they are disappointed but OK. The boat had taken in much water and sunk and they were close to drowning. One woman was quite weakened by the events but luckily all were in good health now.
 
1 boat returned on its own. At 16.32 CEST, a contact person informed us of a boat of 3 people that had left Morocco early that morning. The boat was not reachable although the shift team tried several times over the course of several hours through the rest of the day. Finally, at 00.40 the contact person told the shift team that they had returned to Morocco on their own.