14/04: 5 boats in distress in the Strait of Gibraltar, 4 intercepted to Morocco, one rescued to Spain

15.04.2019 / 09:52 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 14th of April 2019

Case name: 2019_04_14-WM383
Situation: 5 boats in distress in the Strait of Gibraltar, 4 intercepted to Morocco, one rescued to Spain
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Cases:

On Sunday, 14th of April, we were alerted to 5 boats in distress in the Strait of Gibraltar. 4 boats, two of them carrying 12 and two of them carrying 13 travellers, were eventually intercepted by the Moroccan Marine Royale. One boat from Achakkar, carrying 8 people, was eventually rescued to Spain.

At 9am CEST we were alerted to 4 boats in distress that had left together from Tangier towards Tarifa. We reached one person on one of the boats that informed us that two of the rubber boats carried 12 travellers, two boats had 13 passengers on board. We lost contact to the boat before we could get more information. At 3:08pm we were informed by a contact person that all of the 4 boats had been intercepted by the Moroccan Marine Royale. Later we managed to talk to one of the travellers again, who informed us that he was being deported to the south of Morocco.

At 9:30am CEST we were alerted to a boat in distress that had left from Achakkar the night before at 10pm in a rowing boat. We reached the travellers, that could see cargo ships in the distance, but they couldn’t identify them further. At 9 :55am we managed to receive their GPS position.
At 10 :30am we called the Spanish Rescue authority Salvamento Marítimo that informed us that the boat had been rescued by one of their patrol boats. At 10 :45am we managed to reach the travellers that confirmed their rescue to Spain.
Credibility: UP DOWN 0
Layers »
  • Border police patrols
     
    While the exact location of patrols is of course constantly changing, this line indicates the approximate boundary routinely patrolled by border guards’ naval assets. In the open sea, it usually correspond to the outer extent of the contiguous zone, the area in which “State may exercise the control necessary to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws” (UNCLOS, art. 33). Data source: interviews with border police officials.
  • Coastal radars
     
    Approximate radar beam range covered by coastal radars operating in the frame of national marine traffic monitoring systems. The actual beam depends from several different parameters (including the type of object to be detected). Data source: Finmeccanica.
  • Exclusive Economic Zone
     
    Maritime area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea in which the coastal state exercises sovereign rights for the purposes of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, the seabed and its subsoil and the superjacent waters. Its breadth is 200 nautical miles from the straight baselines from which the territorial sea is measured (UNCLOS, Arts. 55, 56 and 57). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans
  • Frontex operations
     
    Frontex has, in the past few years, carried out several sea operations at the maritime borders of the EU. The blue shapes indicate the approximate extend of these operations. Data source: Migreurop Altas.
  • Mobile phone coverage
     
    Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network coverage. Data source: Collins Mobile Coverage.
  • Oil and gas platforms
     
    Oil and gas platforms in the Mediterranean. Data source:
  • Search and Rescue Zone
     
    An area of defined dimensions within which a given state is has the responsibility to co-ordinate Search and Rescue operations, i.e. the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger. Data source: IMO availability of search and rescue (SAR) services - SAR.8/Circ.3, 17 June 2011.
  • Territorial Waters
     
    A belt of sea (usually extending up to 12 nautical miles) upon which the sovereignty of a coastal State extends (UNCLOS, Art. 2). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans

Related Reports

19:08 Jun 02, 2018 / Western Mediterranean, Morocco/Spain Kms
01/06 Boat in distress in the Western Med with 11 people on board, returned to Morocco
18:40 May 31, 2018 / Western Mediterranean, Morocco/Spain Kms
30/05 Boat in distress carrying 5 people in the Western Med, rescued to Spain
17:42 May 16, 2018 / Western Mediterranean Sea Kms
15/05: 5 travellers rescued to Tarifa