Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 21st of November 2017

Case name: 2017_11_21-WM178
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to emergency situation in the Western Med
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Tuesday, the 21st of November 2017, at 4.04am, our Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a contact person in Morocco to a boat carrying 7 people in the Western Mediterranean Sea. The group had left the evening before, at about 10pm, and we received one of their phone numbers. We were unable to directly reach the travellers, but our contact person informed us at 4.21am, that the rubber boat was losing air. At 5pm, Salvamento Maritimo, the Spanish search and rescue organisation, informed us that they had also established contact to the boat but were unable to retrieve their GPS position. They had lost contact to the boat about 2.30am. They speculated that they may have already been intercepted by the Moroccan Navy. At 6am, we received a second number from one of the persons on the boat, but also failed to reach him. At 9.24am, the Spanish authorities informed us that the Moroccan Navy had informed them about two boats carrying each 7 people who had been intercepted and returned to Morocco a few hours earlier. At 3.30pm, our contact person confirmed that the 7 people had been intercepted. They had been returned to Tangier, but were safe.