04/11: 2 boats from Nador each carrying 56 people, 31 people dead despite both boats being rescued

05.11.2018 / 13:26 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 4th of November 2018
Case name: 2018_11_04-WM349
Situation: 2 boats from Nador each carrying 56 people, 31 people dead despite both boats being rescued
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: At 9.10am CET on Sunday the 4th of November the Alarmphone shift team was alerted to two boats in distress which had left from Nador at 5am local time. Our contact person told us that one of the boats had been rescued to Spain, and that the other boat’s engine was broken and water was coming into the boat. For the boat still in distress we contacted the Spanish Search and Rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) at 10:10am, who said that they were already aware of the case and that a rescue mission was underway. Over the next few hours we were unable to get any confirmation of a successful rescue of the boat still in distress. At 12:20pm we contacted the Moroccan Navy and learned that they had found a boat with around 50 or 60 people on board, but further information would be available later in the evening. We received no more information until the next day, when at 10:20am on Monday the 5th of November the SM told us that they were still searching for the boat. At 10pm our contact person for this case heard from one of the survivors from this boat that approximately 30 of his fellow travellers had died. He also told us that the boat had been taken to Melilla. On Tuesday the 6th of November we heard that the authorities had confirmed that there were at least 31 people dead.
Last update: 23:41 Nov 18, 2018
Credibility: UP DOWN 0
Layers »
  • 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

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