04/07: Two Boats off Moroccan coast in distress, both returned to Morocco

05.07.2019 / 18:41 / Western Mediterranean, Morocco/Spain

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 4th of July 2019

Case name: 2019_07_04-WM401
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 Thursday, the 4th of July, the Alarm Phone was alerted to two boats trying to reach Spain. The first boat carried seven people (including one woman) from Tangier and was later intercepted by the Moroccan Navy. The second boat with 57 people on board, including four women, left from Nador, and was also later returned to Morocco by its navy.

Case 1: At 5.45h CEST, our shift team was alerted by a contact person to a boat in distress off the coast of Morocco. We received a phone number and were able to establish a direct contact with the travellers at 6h. They were 7 people, including 1 woman, and rowing. We tried to obtain further information and at 7.10h, we received an updated GPS position. However, already shortly after, we received the information that they had been intercepted by the Moroccan Navy.

Case 2: At 14.30h, a contact person alerted us to a second boat, carrying 57 people, including 4 women, who had left from Nador during the night. Contact to the boat had been lost several hours earlier. We attempted to receive further information about this boat, including its GPS position but were never able to do so. At 18.14h, we spoke to the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) and they informed us that they were already searching for this boat with two airplanes. At 20.30h, SM had no update on the situation but were still searching for the boat. Again at 23.39h, SM stated that they had not yet found the boat. However, at 2.40h in the night, SM stated that they had detected the rubber boat close to the Moroccan coast. They would alert the Moroccan Navy to rescue it. At 3.24am, MRCC Rabat confirmed to us that they had received the position of the boat by Spain and that they would send a vessel toward its position. At 8.25h, MRCC Rabat confirmed the rescue of the boat in question.

Last update: 18:49 Jul 10, 2019

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