22/03: 11 travellers rescued to Spain

23.03.2018 / 18:49 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 22nd of March 2018

Case name: 2018_03_22-WM213
Situation: 11 travellers rescued to Spain
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On Thursday, 22nd of March, at 8:02am CET, we got alerted to a rubber boat in distress in the Strait of Gibraltar, carrying 11 people. They had left from Cap Spartel at 4:00am CET. At 08:10am we called the boat. The people on board described two cargo boats in their surrounding. Since they had WhatsApp on one of their phones, we agreed that they would send us their GPS position. At 08:20am we received their position. To monitor their movement, we asked for a new position 15min. later. The position we received at 08:42am showed that the boat was barely moving. We received a video call from the boat at 08:44am. The sea was getting rougher and the people asked urgently for help. At 08:52am we called Salvamento Maritimo and informed them about the boat and its position. At 09:15am a contact person informed us that the people had been rescued to Spain. At 09:18am we called Salvamento Maritimo that confirmed the rescue. At 09:20am we also received a rescue notification from the travellers.

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