Vessel in distress in the Western Med, intercepted by Morocco

15.08.2015 / 15:08 / Western Mediterranean Sea, Morocco

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations 14th of August 2015

Case name: 2015_08_14-WM41
Situation: Vessel intercepted by the Moroccan Navy
Status of WTM Investigations: Concluded
Place of Incidents: Western Mediterranean Sea, Morocco

Summary of the Cases: On Friday the 14th of August 2015, the Alarm Phone received an emergency call from a vessel in the Western Mediterranean Sea. The woman on the phone reported that they had left Cap Spartel/Morocco an hour earlier and were a group of 11 people. A few minutes later they stated that they could see a Spanish vessel nearby and that water had started to enter their vessel. They asked us to call the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo. Shortly after, Salvamento confirmed to us that they would launch a rescue operation. After reaching out to the travellers to inform them about the rescue operation, they could not be contacted again for some time. When we succeeded to re-establish contact, they told us that they had been intercepted by Morocco and were already back in Tangier/Morocco.

Credibility:

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