Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 28th of December 2019
Case name: 2019_12_28-WM438
Situation: 20 people intercepted by police near Dakhla //– 40 people rescued to Las Palmas
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediteranean

Summary of the Cases:

On Saturday the 28th of December, the Alarm Phone was alerted to two groups of travellers in distress. The first group, we eventually found out, had been intercepted by the Moroccan police before they set off from Dakhla. The second group, which had left from Laayoune, were probably rescued by Salvamento Maritimo.

At 1.00pm CET the Alarm Phone was alerted to a case of 20 people who were said to have left near Dakhla. The telephone contact to the people on the boat could not be established again throughout the duration of the case, although all available channels were tried. Eventually we received a gps position from a friend of the travellers. The friend of the travellers forwarded another telephone number of one of the travellers, this too could not be reached. At 10.22pm the friend of the travellers informed the Alarm Phone that all 20 persons were intercepted by police before leaving and were now at the police station in Laayoune.

At 2.48pm the Alarm Phone was alerted to one boat carrying 40 people started between Boundour and Dakhla. A friend of the travellers informed us about the case and passed on the number of a person on the boat. This number remained unreachable. Since Moroccan authorities did not know about a boat of this description, we called Salvamento Maritimo Las Palmas at 11.49pm, who confirmed that they were already alerted to the case and were searching for the boat. The number on the boat remained unreachable until midday the following day, and there were no updates from authorities. At 4.48pm Salvamento Maritimo Las Palmas confirmed the rescue of a boat carrying 40 people and with the same phone number passed to the Alarm Phone by the friend of the travellers. We were unable to receive confirmation of this by the travellers themselves or their family members.