11/07: Alarm Phone alerted to 2 boats in the Western Mediterranean

12.07.2018 / 16:35 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 11th of July 2018
Case name: 2018_07_11-WM282
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 2 distress cases between Morocco and Spain.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Wednesday the 11th of July, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to 2 boats in distress in the strait of Gibraltar. Both of them were returned to Morocco by the Moroccan navy.

At 5:41am CEST we were alerted to 12 travellers, among them one woman, who had left from a beach in Tangier at around 1:00am local time. At 5.50am we received the position of the travellers. At 7:02am the contact person confirmed that the travellers had been intercepted by the Morrocan Navy

At 07:23am CEST our shift team was alerted by a contact person to a boat with 12 travellers who had left from just south of Tangier at 1:00am local time. At 7:25am we received a position for the boat, and were informed that they were rowing. At 9:02am we communicated with the travellers on the boat, but after this lost contact. At 11:16am we called the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) and provided the most recent GPS position (8:48am) and a description of the boat. At 12:20pm we communicated with the travellers and they informed us that they were being brought back to Morocco and the contact person later confirmed that they had safely arrived in Morocco.

Last update: 16:40 Jul 22, 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