Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations 15th of August 2015
Case name: 2015_08_15-WM42
Situation: 2 vessels rescued/intercepted by the Moroccan Navy
Status of WTM Investigations: Concluded
Place of Incidents: Western Mediterranean Sea, Morocco

Summary of the Cases: On Saturday the 15th of August 2015, the Alarm Phone was contacted at approximately 7am by someone who, clearly in panic, reported that they were a group of 10 people on their way to Spain. Following his account, they were already close to Tarifa/Spain but some people had fallen into the water. We immediately called the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo in Tarifa who already knew about the emergency situation and said that they launched a rescue operation, including a helicopter. As it was still dark, they could not estimate how long the search might take. We then reached out to the travellers and, despite very difficult communications, they understood that a rescue operation had been launched. At approximately 8:14am, we received a message from Salvamento Maritimo, informing us that the group had been rescued/intercepted by the Moroccan Navy. Later on, the authorities in Rabat/Morocco also confirmed the rescue of the group in distress.

A few hours later we received a distress call from a vessel carrying 5 people who had left several hours earlier from Tangier/Morocco. Due to an impeded phone connection it was difficult to receive further details. We then informed Salvamento Maritimo about the case. Afterwards, the group could not be reached for some time until, about an hour later, they confirmed that they had been intercepted by the Moroccan Navy.