Reports of the disappearance of another boat with twenty-five people heading to the Balearic Islands
Caminando Fronteras questions whether the public entity activated the search device for the vessel after its message.
PalmThe group Caminando Fronteras has reported the disappearance of another boat with 25 people on board, which left the Algerian coast last Sunday heading for the Balearic Islands.
The head of the NGO and human rights activist, Helena Malena, told Europa Press that the families of these people contacted her after not hearing from them five days after beginning the journey, a much longer period than usual. Malena stated that she has made this information available to Maritime Rescue so they can activate a search operation.
The boat capsized in Mallorca was reported on Wednesday.
Furthermore, the NGO has been able to confirm that the boat that sank Wednesday off the southern coast of Mallorca is the same one whose disappearance they reported several days earlier. The activist stated that the survivors have already been able to contact their families in Somalia. Last Sunday, the group reported the disappearance of a boat that had set sail from the coast of Algeria heading for the Balearic Islands, and they suspect it could be the one that sank.
No response from Maritime Rescue
The human rights defender stated that she contacted Maritime Rescue last Sunday after receiving the families' notification from Somalia. However, she regretted that Maritime Rescue referred them to the Red Cross, despite the fact that this entity does not carry out rescues at sea.
They were also instructed to provide the information by email, which Maleno stated they did. Last Tuesday, she added, they were sent the phone numbers of some of the people on board the boat.
However, the activist criticized the fact that she has no evidence that Maritime Rescue activated any type of search operation during the three days that passed between their first notification and the shipwreck. "We provided all the necessary information so they could search for them. We would like to know whether or not they were searched for during these three days and what means were activated," she said.
For their part, Maritime Rescue sources indicated that after receiving the alert early Saturday morning, they contacted the Algerian Maritime Coordination Center, which stated that it had not intercepted or rescued any vessel with these characteristics.
The Palma Maritime Rescue Coordination Center activated an aerial search operation with the participation of a helicopter and an airplane, which searched the areas south of Cabrera and southeast of Cabo de ses Salines.
A cargo ship sailing southeast of Cabrera was also requested to assist in maintaining visual and radar surveillance. However, the operation was unsuccessful. In the following days, alerts to mariners were activated to reinforce surveillance in the area. On Monday, the sources indicated, Caminando Fronteras provided them with the telephone number of a person who was allegedly on board the missing boat.
This information was passed on to the Civil Guard and the Emergency Services in an attempt to locate them, but to no avail.