11/07: 11 travellers paddling from Morocco to Spain, rescued to Tarifa

12.07.2017 / 11:29 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 11th of July 2017

Case name: 2017_07_11-WM146
Situation: 11 travellers paddling from Morocco to Spain, rescued to Tarifa
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Tuesday, the 11th of July 2017, at 6am, we received a call about 10 travellers on a rubber boat without an engine. They were trying to paddle from Morocco to Spain. They had left at about 1am from Tanger, Morocco and were in distress, according to our contact person. We immediately reached out to the travellers, who told us that they were 11 passengers, including 2 women, and in urgent need of assistance. The person on the boat told us that they had been in the sea for about 5 hours. We immediately called the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (S.M.). They promised to check on the boat. We tried to call the travellers again to tell them that S.M. was looking for them, but we could not reach them. At 6.41am, the travellers called us, urgently asking for help. They could see a white fishing boat. We called S.M. again and informed them about the fisher boat. S.M. told us that they had tried to call the travellers, but had not reached them. We called back the travellers, asking them to get in touch directly with S.M. At 7.50 the travellers gave us more detailed information about the fishing boat, but we did not understand whether or not they had called S.M. Meanwhile we could see on Marinetraffic that an S.M. helicopter and a vessel were looking for the travellers. At 9.30 S.M. told us that the Moroccan Navy had rescued a boat with 11 persons on board and that they had finished the search mission. A few minutes later however, when we called the travellers, we learned that they had not been rescued. We asked them to send us their GPS position, and they send us a position, but it was not correct. We nevertheless passed on the position to S.M. and informed them that 'our' boat was still waiting for rescue. Around noon, S.M. started another search mission for the boat and actually found them. At 12.42 the travellers confirmed to us that they were being picked up by S.M. We later found a facebook post which probably referred to this case. It said that S.M. had rescued 11 persons and were expected to arrive in Tarife around 2.20pm.
Last update: 11:44 Jul 24, 2017
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

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