Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (EFE) and closer to the Sahara coast, and assures that until the last moment he did not know that its occupants “were in danger.”
Two people died and another 34 have disappeared when the zodiac sank, the rescue of which was assigned to the Moroccan patrol boat Al Mansour, which arrived in the area at 6:20 a.m. on Wednesday, when a Spanish Maritime Rescue plane had communicated its position at 7:53 p.m. Tuesday hours and, at that very moment, there was a Spanish rescue ship relatively close, in another operation.
The Ombudsman has announced that it is opening an ex officio investigation into that rescue, which has received criticism from the NGOs Caminando Fronteras and Alarm Phone and also from various parties, including IU, Coalición Canaria and Nueva Canarias.
“Since the alert of the incident occurred in a SAR zone (search and rescue responsibility zone) shared between Spain and Morocco, as stated in the Global SAR Plan of the International Maritime Organization, both countries must coordinate on who proceeds to the rescue and assumes the coordination of the emergency”, warns Salvamento Marítimo, in a statement.
Closer to the Sahara than to the Canary Islands
This state company recalls that the inflatable, with 60 occupants, was 40 miles (74 km) from Blaya (a town on the coast of El Aaiún, in the Sahara) and 88 miles (162 km) from Gran Canaria.
As the Sahara is half as far as the Canary Islands, he adds, “Morocco expressly assumed the coordination and mobilized means to proceed with the rescue, especially considering that the vessel, as confirmed by the Sasemar 101 plane after its sighting, was at I floated and there were no people in the water.”
“This information was also confirmed by the Navios Azure ship, diverted to the area and which remained overnight in the vicinity of the pneumatics, following instructions from the MRCC (rescue coordination center, in English) of Rabat, which had already assumed the coordination”, he adds.
Regarding the decision to withdraw the Guardamar Calliope from the area, he maintains that it was “40 miles from the rib” and recalls that this ship had just rescued 63 people from another zodiac, “several of whom needed attention due to the state they were in, so they proceeded to move ashore.”
The coordinates of the rescue of Calliope and of the first sighting from the air of the pneumatic boat that would end up sinking provided to EFE by Salvamento Marítimo indicate a shorter distance, of about 25 nautical miles (27º 23.3′ N 14º 45.3’W at 8:30 p.m. and 26º 59.4′ N and 14º 36′ W at 19:53, respectively).
As reported by 112, upon arrival at the port of Arguineguín, none of the 63 rescued by Calliope was taken to the hospital. The Red Cross does know, on the other hand, a medical transfer.
Maritime Rescue explains that, “once coordination was assumed by the Moroccan SAR authorities”, he made himself available to “collaborate in whatever was required; hence a helicopter was mobilized when so requested”.
“Indications from external organizations are not received”
“This procedure is, on the other hand, the usual one between neighboring countries and is carried out on numerous occasions both with Morocco and with the United Kingdom or France,” says Salvamento, who defends that his decisions regarding rescue follow “technical” criteria. , “independent” and guided by “international procedures”, “and no indications from external organizations are received.”
It adds that, according to the information provided by Morocco, there were no people in the water at the time of the arrival of its patrol boat (Al Mansour) in the area of the incident and stresses that “since the MRCC Rabat assumed coordination, the centers The Maritime Rescue Coordination had no information that neither the vessel nor the migrants were in danger until the rescue operation was already underway.
Finally, it details that, “from 2020 to the end of May 2023, Maritime Rescue has rescued 6,243 people in the overlapping SAR zone and Morocco 3,748.” EFE