5/2: WM 2 boats carrying 95 and 75 people left from around Nador, both rescued to Spain

06.02.2019 / 08:13 / Western Mediterrean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 5th of February 2019
Case name: 2019_02_05-WM372
Situation: 2 boats carrying 95 and 75 people left from around Nador, both rescued to Spain
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Tuesday the 5th of February the Alarm shift team was alerted to two boats (carrying 95 & 75 people) which had both left from or close to Bouyafar. Both boats were rescued to Spain by the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM).

At 9.29am CET the Alarm phone shift team was contacted by a person who was concerned about a boat carrying 95 people which had left from Bouyafar at around 6am the previous day (4th of February). At 10:10am we informed SM about the case. When we contacted SM at 11:56am they told us they had just rescued the travellers and soon after we received confirmation of rescue from one of the travellers via our contact person.

At 3:30pm the Alarm phone shift team tried repeatedly to make contact with a boat carrying 75 people (including 18 women and 12 children) which had left from Tazari (close to Bouyafar) at around 7am local time. No contact had been made with the travellers since 10am. At 4pm we contacted SM and gave them the information that we had for the boat. At 4:55pm our contact person let us know that the boat had made it to Spain, by way of rescue by SM. This was also confirmed by SM.

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