04/09: 3 boats in the Western Mediterranean, 2 intercepted, one unconfirmed

05.09.2018 / 20:58 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 4th of September 2018

Case name: 2018_09_04-WM323
Situation: 2 boats in the Western Mediterranean, 2 intercepted, one unconfirmed
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On Tuesday, 4th of September, we were alerted to 3 boats in the Western Mediterranean Sea. Two boats with 8 and 11 travellers from Cap Spartel were intercepted by the Moroccan Marine Royale. One boat with 55 people was most probably rescued to Spain, but we couldn’t definitely confirm its arrival.

Case 1: At 8:33am CEST we received a direct call on the Alarm Phone of 8 travellers that had left at 1am local time from Cap Spartel. Among them were two women. In the following hours we continuously tried to receive the GPS position from the boat, but we lost the connection at 10:40am. At 12:39am, we informed the Spanish rescue authority Salvamento Marítimo via email. We couldn’t find out what happened to the boat until the following day at 9:40am when we reached them and they informed us that they had been intercepted by the Moroccan Marine Royale and were directly deported to the south of Morocco in a bus, together with 110 others.

Case 2: At 8:35am CEST we were informed about a boat from Tangier, carrying 11 people, among them 3 women. We tried to receive a GPS position of the boat. Last contact was at 8:50am, after that we couldn’t reach the travellers anymore. At 12:25am we were informed that the boat had been intercepted by the Moroccan Marine Royale.

Case 3: At 5:16pm CEST we were alerted by a contact person to a boat that had left from Nador, carrying 55 people, among them 16 women and 3 children. The contact person had lost contact to the boat at 12am. We couldn’t establish a connection to the boat neither. We tried to confirm the rescue of the boat with the Spanish rescue authority Salvamento Marítimo, but we couldn’t definitely identify our boat among the rescued ones. As Helena Maleno, human rights activist in the area, published on Facebook the rescue to Spain of a boat with 16 women and 3 babies, most probably this is the boat we had been searching for.

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