15/01 Alarm Phone alerted to boat in distress in Western Med, intercepted by the Moroccan Navy

16.01.2016 / 01:12 / Western Mediterranean Sea, Morocco

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 15th of January 2016

Case name: 2016_01_15-WM74
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to boat in distress in Western Med, intercepted
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Friday the 15th of January, the Alarm Phone was alerted to an emergency situation in the Western Mediterranean Sea. Between 8.29-8.42am our shift team received several calls from a Moroccan number, alerting us to a case of distress. While the quality of the connection was bad, we gathered that about 11 people, including minors were on a vessel in the Western Mediterranean Sea. They told us that they had seen a large red vessel but were unable to reach it. They said that water was entering their vessel and the waves were high but we could get any information on where they were, and where they had left from in Morocco. We contacted Salvamento Maritimo and passed on the details of the case. Our last contact to the vessel was at 9.03am when the travellers re-stated that they could see a large red vessel. Afterwards, they could not be reached again. At 6.36pm Salvamento Maritimo confirmed that the vessel had been found and intercepted by the Moroccan Navy.

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