Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 27th of October 2018
Case name: 2018_10_27-WM347
Situation: 3 boats: 2 intercepted; 1 no info
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On October 27th, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 3 boats in distress in the Western Mediterranean. Two were intercepted and returned to Morocco. There is no info on the third.

In the first case, the Alarm Phone received a call at 3.50am CET about a boat of 34 people including 5 women which left from a beach close to Nador. The shift team contacted Salvamiento Maritimo with all relevant information. Salvamiento Maritimo had already heard about the boat and told the Marine Royale (MR). The shift team then followed up with the MR several times to make sure they had the correct position, and continued contact for several hours. However, the shift team lost contact with the boat. The situation was getting worse as the weather was very bad. At 12.06pm, the travelers contact the Alarm Phone to tell them that they had been rescued to Morocco. We later learned from the contact person that all persons were ok but they were exhausted as they spent 3 days without eating on a zodiac. The next day we learned that the passengers had been deported to Errachidia by the Moroccan authorities.

In the second case, at 5.05am CET the Alarm Phone received news about a boat of 15 people leaving from close to Tangier (including 1 baby and 3 women). The shift team remained vigilant about the situation of the boat and at 3.25pm received confirmation that the boat had been intercepted by the Marine Royale and brought back to Morocco.

In the third case, the shift team was informed at 20.05pm CET about a boat with 54 people (including 5 children and 11 women) leaving from Bouyafar. The shift team alerted Salvamiento Maritimo to the boat but they responded that as the weather was bad, rescue operations were stalled until the morning. Waves in the region were up to 2m high with 22kt winds. The shift team tried to maintain contact with the boat but was unable to. The following morning the Alarm Phone continued to call the Salvamiento Maritimo for updates on the rescue operation. The shift team was unable to locate the boat, although it remained in constant contact with SM, MRCC Rabat and MRCC Algiers until October 30 at 21.36 pm trying to find the boat. The shift team also called the relatives of one person on the boat again at 10th of November. Unfortunately they also had no news from their family member.