30/08 Three boats in distress in the Western Med, all returned to Morocco

31.08.2018 / 18:00 / Western Mediterranean, Morocco/Spain

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 30th of August 2018

Case name: 2018_08_30-WM321
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 30th of August 2018, our Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to three boats in distress in the Western Mediterranean Sea. They were all returned to Morocco.

At 7.58am CEST, we were alerted by a contact person to a boat in distress carrying 13 people, including 2 women, who had left from Achakar during the night. We tried to reach the boat several times but were unable to get through. At 9.07am, our contact person informed us that they had been intercepted by the Moroccan Navy. Shortly after we also spoke to one of the travellers who confirmed that they had been returned by the Moroccan Navy.

At 10.10am, we received information about a boat carrying 11 people, including 1 woman, who had left from Tangier. We were able to speak to the travellers directly over the next hours. At 12.30pm, they informed us that they could see a vessel in their vicinity. At 12.50pm, we passed information on the situation to the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM). However, at 1.31pm our contact person informed us that they had been intercepted by the Moroccan Navy and were being returned to Morocco.

At 8.05pm, a contact person alerted us to a boat that had left from Tangier with 58 people on board, including 12 women and 6 infants. We tried to reach the boat several times but were unable to get through. At 9.25pm, we received the information from our contact person that the people had been rescued by a civilian vessel. They were being returned to Morocco.

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