The waters in which the shipwreck of a boat occurred last Wednesday with 61 immigrants on board and which resulted in the death of 37, including two children and a baby, were Spanish and should have been the rescue services of the State Spanish those who intervened. However, that assistance was delegated to Morocco despite the insistence of the pilot of the Spanish plane that was sent in search of the pneumatics that the waters were Spanish.
The NGO Caminando Fronteras warned from the outset that the immigrants were in waters under Spanish responsibility and that Spain had failed to provide assistance. Now, the conversations held on Wednesday between the pilot of the plane, the Sasemar 101, and the Las Palmas Maritime Rescue control center and carried out by Cadena SER confirm that Spain conscientiously delegated that rescue to Morocco.
The Moroccan patrol boat intervened 17 hours after the first notice given by the relatives of the immigrants and in which they requested help given the state in which the vessel was located and the risk of shipwreck. When he did, it was already late and only 24 people out of the 61 were rescued alive from the water.
The activist and founder of Caminando Fronteras, Helena Maleno, received the notice from the relatives of the immigrants around 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday. At 6:00 p.m. they contacted again and were given the position of the boat. The NGO then notified the Spanish rescue services and the search plane, Sasemar 101, which was in the area, was activated. From the Maritime Rescue control center in Las Palmas, they are given their position and asked to go and see what state the vessel is in and “without actually entering the Moroccan SAR zone.”
Half an hour later, the pilot asks for confirmation of the location and when it is given, the Las Palmas control center tells him that it is an “overlapping area of ??about 4 or 5 miles” and asks if it is possible to “get into the limit” and check from that point the state of the boat. At that moment, the pilot corrected his interlocutor and pointed out that the position of the vessel “is within our SAR zone.” The boat is located around 19 hours.
The pilot points out that there are about 50 Maghrebi people and that the boat is made of wood, although he later indicates that it is a pneumatic boat and goes so far as to take photos. He also points out that they are in good health. There are 61 people in the boat, it is an inflatable tire without conditions and also those who travel are sub-Saharan Africans. The distance at which the plane is located makes it impossible to see clearly and verify the reality of the situation.
The Las Palmas control center then decides to notify Morocco because it is some 40 miles from its coasts and they ask the pilot to return to the base. “Then you confirm to me that they are in good condition, there is no one in the water or it is sinking or anything. Correct?” They ask the pilot from the control center, who confirms and returns.
At that moment, Salvamento activated a request for help among the ships that were in the area so that they could get closer to the pneumatics. It was the container ship ‘Navíos Azure’, which was heading to Algeciras, which headed towards the place and remained next to the pneumatics until the shipwreck occurred.
Just an hour away from the inflatable was the Guardamar Calliope, which has just rescued another boat with 63 people, but it is not activated to go to its aid. He is also asked to return to her base as she takes over the Morocco operation.
The Moroccan patrol boat goes to the area on Wednesday morning and shortly before 11 in the morning requests help from Spain. 17 hours have passed since the first warning. The Helimer 201 helicopter, based in Gran Canaria, is sent, which when it arrives can only rescue the corpse of a girl between 5 and 8 years old from the water, which it takes to the Canary Islands. Morocco takes charge of the 24 survivors that it returns to Cape Bojador and the corpse of a man.
“Countries continue to play with people’s lives: Spain says go to Morocco, although there are no Moroccan SARs there. Morocco says that it goes because the waters to the Canary Islands are theirs but in the end they leave them waiting because they don’t care if they die,” denounced the founder of Caminando Fronteras, Helena Maleno, something that is now confirmed by the recordings of the conversations between those responsible. of Maritime Rescue in Las Palmas and the pilot of the plane sent to the area.
Maleno denounces the existence of an agreement between Spain and Morocco to delegate bailouts to the latter. “Immigrants are being left at the mercy of the interests and geostrategic negotiations between Rabat and Spain for the territories of that area and territorial waters”, points out this activist who considers what happened an “omission of the duty of relief and irresponsibility of the Spanish State” with the people who were traveling in the rescue boat that was in Spanish waters.
In his opinion, Maritime Rescue has become a “racist instrument” that differentiates the right to life between those who go by boat or yacht. “They go in flimsy boats that when they drift can sink at any time but since they are migrants they are left at sea for hours,” he denounced.
