25/06 Fourteen boats in distress in the Western Med, 3 returns to Morocco, 10 arrivals in Spain, 1 unknown

26.06.2018 / 14:12 / Western Mediterranean, Morocco/Spain

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 25th of June 2018

Case name: 2018_06_25-WM269
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to emergency situations in the Western Med
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Monday the 25th of June 2018, our Alarm Phone shift teams worked on a total of 14 distress cases. 10 boats were rescued to Spain, 3 boats were intercepted, and the fate of 1 boat remains unknown.

At 4.19am CEST, a contact person alerted us to a boat carrying 12 people, including 2 women who had left from Cap Spartel/Morocco, at 1am at night. We passed on a GPS position of the boat to the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM). However, the travellers stated that they could see a vessel of the Moroccan navy approaching. We received the confirmation later on that they had been intercepted and returned to Morocco.

At 5.31am we received a distress case involving again 12 people, including 2 women. They had left from Cap Spartel at about 4am CET. At 6am we were able to receive a GPS position of the boat and at 8.11am they said that they could see two vessels in the vicinity. Later we received the confirmation that they had been rescued by SM to Spain.

During the day we were involved in 12 other distress situations, involving a boat carrying 11 people (1 woman) rescued to Spain; a boat carrying 6 people (2 woman) returned to Morocco; a boat carrying 4 people (1 woman) rescued to Spain; a boat carrying 8 people (1 woman) rescued to Spain; a boat carrying 5 people (1 woman) returned to Morocco; a boat carrying 5 people (1 woman) rescued to Spain; a boat carrying 45 people (4 women) rescued to Spain; a boat carrying 12 people (3 women) rescued to Spain; a boat carrying 12 people (2 women) rescued to Spain; another boat carrying 12 people (2 women) rescued to Spain; a boat carrying 41 people (unknown number of women) rescued to Spain; a boat carrying 5 people whose fate is so far unknown.

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