23/01: 16 travellers intercepted to Nador/Morocco

24.01.2018 / 15:29 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 23rd of January 2018

Case name: 2018_01_23-WM204
Situation:16 travellers intercepted to Nador/ Morocco
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:

On Tuesday, 23rd of January, at 12:35am, a contact person informed us about a missing boat that had left from Nador at 5:00am towards the Spanish enclave Melilla, carrying 16 people (among them 5 women).
We couldn’t establish direct connection to the boat. At 1:00pm we called the Spanish rescue organization Salvamento Maritimo. They already knew about the boat and stated they would search for it with two naval assets and an airplane. In the ongoing we continued to try to reach the boat and also sent an email to the respective authorities to document the alert. Salvamento Maritimo answered via email that they would be coordinating the search and rescue operation with the Moroccan Marine Royale. At 4:20pm we called Salvamento again, that stated that the Moroccan forces had rescued a boat in the area, but with only 15 people on board. We failed to establish a connection to the contact person and the travellers until the next day at 11:20am when we managed to reach them. They were all safe but had been taken back to Nador.

Last update: 13:51 Feb 03, 2018

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