10/10: 5 travellers rescued to Tarifa by Salvamento Maritimo

11.10.2017 / 10:41 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 10th of October 2017

Case name: 2017_10_10-WM166
Situation: 5 travellers starting from Tangier rescued by Salvamento Maritimo
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Cases: On Tuesday the 10th of October at 8.20am a contact person alerted the Alarm Phone to a boat carrying five travellers, forwarding us their phone number. The travellers had left from Cap Spartel at 3am local time, and the past hour the contact person hadn’t been able to reach them. After trying to reach the travellers whitout success, we alerted the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) to the case at 8.45am. On Marinetraffic we could observe that a Spanish search and rescue boat along with two aircrafts were searching the area. We were continuously in contact with the contact person, but he was not able to reach the travellers either. At 10am SM informed us that they were probably in contact with the travellers. At 12.12pm we called SM again, and they informed us that both they and the Moroccan Navy were busy with rescue operations. Up until that point the Moroccan Navy had rescued three vessels with five, ten and 33 travellers, and SM had rescued one vessel with seven people, one vessel with 42 people, and a vessel with five people which they thought could be the one from our case. At 12.23pm we got a confirmation from the contact person that the travellers had been rescued to Tarifa.

Last update: 10:47 Oct 29, 2017

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