10/06: 14 women stranded on Chafarinas island/ Spain, rescued to Melilla

Verified

  Stranded

11.06.2018 / 18:11 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 10th of June 2018

Case name: 2018_06_10-WM258
Situation: 14 women stranded on Chafarinas island, rescued to Melilla
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On Sunday, 10th of June, at 4:19am CEST, we received information about 14 women that had left by boat for Melilla but had stranded at the Spanish military island Chafarinas. We managed to establish a connection to the group and received their position at 5:06am. We also received pictures of the women and a sign stating that the island was Spanish territory. We were concerned about the danger of a push-back of the group to Morocco. At 5:54 we sent an email to different human rights groups operative in the area to alert them about the case. We stayed in contact with the group during the next hours. They informed us that two of the group had health problems and that 4 of them would be minors. At 8:45am we called the Spanish Rescue authority Salvamento Marítimo (SM) that took all information, but forwarded us to SM Almería, that had already been informed about the case. We sent an email to document the case and express our concerns about an illegal push back of the women back to Morocco. And 9:12am we called SM Almería again. The operator stated that the information was passed to the military on the island and the group would be rescued, but he couldn’t confirm whether to Spain or to Morocco. We spread the news on social media channels to raise public awareness. At 10:12am the group was approached by a man that counted the women. We couldn’t get further information from both SM Tarifa nor SM Madrid. At 11:28am the group informed us that two boats were approaching. At 11:45 they confirmed being with coast guards. We couldn’t find out whether from Spain or Morocco. At 12:30am we called SM Madrid again that confirmed that the group would be with military personal. At 1:30pm we called again, but still the operator couldn’t give us information where the women would be brought to. We requested to provide them with food and water and emphasized that taking them back to Morocco would be illegal under the international law. At 3:50pm SM Madrid informed us that a boat would be sent to the island to transfer the women to Spain.
At 6:17am we saw on a livemap the arrival of a Spanish rescue asset that then headed to the Spanish enclave Melilla. At 9:45pm a local contact confirmed the safe arrival of the women and children in Melilla.
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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