Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 17th of February 2017

Case name: 2017_02_17-WM132
Situation: 28 travellers left from Nador/Morocco to Almeria/Spain; intercepted by Moroccan Navy
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Friday the 17th of February 2017 at 8.47am, a contact person alerted the Alarm Phone to a rubber boat in distress with 28 travellers on board, who had left Nador/Morocco at about midnight. He forwarded several phone numbers to us and informed us that the boat’s engine had stopped working and that the boat was drifting. We tried to call the travellers directly and reached one person at 9am, but were not able to receive any information. Afterwards, we send several messages to the travellers, asking for their exact place and time of departure and their destination. At 9.40am, the travellers called us back and told us that they had left from Nador/Bocana at 1am and were heading in the direction of Almeria/Spain. At 9.45am, we called the Spanish rescue organization Salvamento Maritimo (S.M.) in Almeria and forwarded the travellers’ phone numbers and all the information we had received so far. The officer told us about a completed rescue operation on the same day, but we convinced him that this could not be the same boat, as we had just talked to the travellers, still being in distress. He promised to take care of the case. At 10am, we also informed S.M. via email about the boat in distress. At 10.17am, we called S.M. Almeria again and learned that they had also talked to the travellers and that they had alerted the rescue forces in Melilla/Spain and the Moroccan coastguard. The officer told us that the boat should still be close to the Moroccan coast, because the engine had broken down one hour after the travellers had departed. At 11.09am, we talked to the travellers again. They were still calm and without medical problems, yet they could not see any vessels around them and were urgently asking for help. We explained to them how to send us their GPS position via Whats App and they promised to try to do so. Ten minutes later, we talked again to them and they confirmed that their engine had broken down one hour after their departure. Still, they were not able to forward their GPS position. At 11.20am, in another call with S.M., we were told that S.M. did not receive a permission to enter the Moroccan air space or its territorial waters, so they could not send an airplane or rescue vessel. At 11.50am, we tried again to establish a connection to the travellers via Whats App, but without success. As S.M. was apparently not taking action, at 12.41am, we informed the Spanish UNHCR and asked them to put pressure on the rescue organization, in order to immediately take action. At the same time, we also spoke to S.M.’s headquarter in Madrid/Spain and urged them to send a rescue vessel from the Spanish exclave of Melilla, as the boat in distress was close to this city. After some negotiations, the officer promised to start a search operation within Spanish territorial waters around Melilla and also to ask the Moroccan authorities once more for a permission to enter their territorial waters. Beyond that, we also talked to a representative of the Spanish UNHCR, who also promised to put pressure on S.M. and to ask them to immediately start a search and rescue operation. At 1.08pm, we saw that the Spanish activist Helena Maleno was also reporting on this case on Twitter. At 1.10pm, we reached the travellers again. They were still ok and very calm. We again tried to explain to them how to forward their position to us, but without success. At 1.30pm, we saw on marinetraffic.com that the Spanish rescue vessel SALVAMAR ALCOR had left the port of Melilla. At 2.45pm, we called S.M. in Almeria again. They confirmed to us that their vessel SALVAMAR ALCOR was searching the boat in distress. They also told us that a Moroccan vessel was looking for the travellers’ boat as well. In the course of the next hour, we continuously tried to re-establish contact to the travellers. At 3.37pm, we reached them again. They told us that their boat was not moving anymore and that they could not see any other vessel in their vicinity. Afterwards, we were not able to reach the travellers anymore. At 4pm, we talked to the contact person again, who had initially informed us about the boat in distress, and asked him to keep us updated if he receives any further information. At 4.30pm, we realized on marinetraffic.com that the Spanish rescue vessel SALVAMAR ALCOR was heading back to the port of Melilla. At 4.40pm, the contact person informed us that he had received the information from another person who had been in contact with the travellers, that they were only 500 metres away from the coast of Melilla. At 4.55pm, we saw that SALVAMAR ALCOR had arrived back at the port of Melilla. Immediately afterwards, at 4.56pm, we called S.M. Almeria again and were told that S.M. had searched for the boat, but without success, and that they had just received a confirmation from the Moroccan authorities that they had found the boat and have picked up the 28 travellers and have brought them back to Nador/Morocco. At 4.57pm, we informed our contact person about this interception. At 5.08pm, we tried to call the travellers again, but they did not pick up our call. Afterwards, their phones were switched off and we didn’t reach them anymore.