Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 22nd of August 2018
Case name: 2018_08_22-WM317
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 3 distress cases in the Western Mediterranean
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Wednesday the 22nd of August the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to 3 boats in distress in the strait of Gibraltar, of which 2 were rescued by the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) and one returned to Morocco by the Moroccan navy.

At 7:52am CEST the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to a boat carrying 56 people, among them 16 women and 1 child, who were in distress. Over the next few hours we made several attempts to contact the boat, but were unsuccessful. At 9:18 our contact person for this case informed us that the boat has been rescued by SM.

At 1:25pm we received a call about a boat carrying 57 people (including 17 women and 4 children) which had left from close to Nador that morning. Over the next hour we tried and failed to make direct contact with the boat. At 2:42pm we called SM and informed them of the case. They told us they were already aware of this case and expected to rescue the boat very soon. At 4:34pm we receive confirmation from the contact person that the people have been rescued to Spain.

At 6:58pm the Alarm Phone shift team were alerted to a boat carrying 15 people which had left from South of Tangier. Despite many attempts to contact the boat, we were unable. At 8pm we contacted SM and gave them the information we had about the case. At 8:36pm we received the position of the boat. We informed SM of the case at 8:50pm, who told us that as the boat was very far south they had informed the Moroccan navy of the case. At 9:36pm we called the boat and were told that the Moroccan navy had arrived.