Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 15h of July 2018
Case name: 2018_07_15WM286
Situation: Four boats in distress, one confirmed to have arrived to Spain.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Sunday the 15th of July, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to four distress cases in the Strait of Gibraltar. One of the boats was rescued by the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM). Two of them were returned to Morocco by the Moroccan navy. In one case we lost contact to the travellers, and the contact person was also not able to provide news about the case, thus it is uncertain whether these travellers were rescued by the Moroccan navy as well.
At 10.18am CEST we were alerted by a contact person to a group of nine travellers in distress, forwarding us their phone number and position. On vesselfinder we could see that the boat was close to one of the search and rescue vessels of SM. At 10.41am we called SM and passed on the information that we had. On vesselfinder we could see the Spanish search and rescue vessel Maria Zambrano approaching the position of the travellers, and at 12.52pm the travellers confirmed that they had been rescued by SM.
At 12.59pm CEST we were alerted by a contact person to a group of nine travellers, including two women, forwarding us their position. The travellers had left from Tangier at 2.30am local time. We stayed in contact with the travellers, and at 2.10pm they informed us that one person was unconcious on the boat. At 3.21pm we passed on the information we had to the Moroccan rescue authorities, as they were urgently asking for help and they were still in the Moroccan rescue zone. At 3.50pm the contact person informed us that the situation was getting very urgent, as water was entering the boat, which we immediately informed the Moroccan rescue authorities about. They told us that the boat of the navy was full and needed to disembark. In several calls they confirmed that they had sent another boat looking for the people, and later that they had rescued 13 groups of travellers, but they were not able to confirm that they had rescued this group. Only in the evening at 10.54pm did we receive a confirmation from the contact person that the travellers had been brought back to Morocco and were all safe.
At 2.26pm CEST we were alerted by a contact person to a group on eight people in distress. At 2.59pm we managed to reach the travellers, who gave us their position and informed us that the situation was urgent as water was entering the boat, as it had two punctures. At 3.21pm we called the Moroccan rescue authorites and forwarded the information that we had. Via the contact person we received the updated positions of the travellers. At 8.00pm, however, the contact person informed us that they had lost contact to the travellers. As with the previous case, the recue authorities informed us that they were in the area searching for people, but could not confirm the rescue of this specific case. At 10.59pm the contact person informed us that the travellers had been rescued and were back in Morocco.
At 3.41pm CEST we received information via a contact person about 11 travellers in distress. The contact forwarded us the phone number and position of the travellers. We were not able to establish direct contact to the boat, and at 5.12pm the contact person informed us that they had also lost contact to the boat. From the two previous boats we knew that the Moroccan navy were in the area looking for travellers, but as with the other cases they were not able to give us specific information about the rescue of the travellers. As we were not able to reach the travellers the following days, and the contact person also didn't have news, we can't be sure about what happened to this group.