04/12: 30 travellers rescued and brought to Spain

05.12.2017 / 11:07 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 4th of December 2017

Case name: 2017_12_04-WM192
Situation: 30 people leaving from Al Hoceima, rescued to Spain
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean
Summary of the Case:

On Monday, the 4th of December, at 4.10pm, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a contact person to 30 travellers, amongst them two women, in distress. The travellers were on their way towards Spain, and had left from around Al Hoceima at 3am. The contact person forwarded us their phone number, but neither we nor the contact person were able to reach the travellers, and the contact person informed us, that last time they had been in contact with the travellers was at 5am. We therefore agreed that we would alert the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) to the distress case. At 4.35pm we called SM and passed on the information we had. They told us that they had just rescued a group of 30 travellers, with two women amongst them, and they were sure that this was the same group. At 5.47pm we got a confirmation from the contact person that the travellers had been rescued.

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