09/10: One boat from Tangier intercepted by Moroccan Marine Royale

10.10.2018 / 10:55 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 9th of October 2018

Case name: 2018_10_09-WM343
Situation: One boat from Tangier intercepted by Moroccan Marine Royale
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On Tuesday, 9th of October, at 8:55am CEST, we were alerted to a boat in distress in the Strait of Gibraltar. It was a rowing boat that had left from Tangier towards Tarifa. We tried to find out more information and received their GPS position at 09:20am. We called the Spanish rescue authority Salvamento Marítimo at 9:29am and sent them an additional email with all respective information. The travellers informed us that the situation was urgent and water was coming into the boat. At 9:41am we received a new position that we forwarded to Salvamento Marítimo immediately. At 10:00am Salvamento asked us to call MRCC Rabat which we did at 10:20am. At 10:28am we received a new position of the boat that we passed to Salvamento at 10:28am. The Spanish authority informed us that the Moroccan Marine would be on its way to pick up the travellers. We called MRCC Rabat at 10:42am to confirm. We lost contact to the boat and the contact person until 12:47am, when the travellers confirmed that they had been intercepted by the Moroccan Marine Royale.

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