06/01: 2 boats from Cap Spartel /Morocco arrived in Spain

07.01.2019 / 13:42 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 06th of January 2019

Case name: 2019_01_06-WM363
Situation: 2 boats from Cap Spartel arrived in Spain
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Cases:

On Sunday, 6th of January 2019, we were contacted by two boats that had left from Cap Spartel in Morocco towards Spain. Both boats, one carrying 12 passengers (1 woman), the other one 10 people, were eventually rescued to Spain.

Case 1: At 7:45 CET we were alerted to a boat in distress that had left Cap Spartel at 11pm the night before, carrying 12 persons, among them one woman. We tried to establish a direct contact to the boat and to find out other phone numbers on board. Eventually we reached the travellers at 1:21pm. They informed us that they had arrived safely at Tarifa.

Case 2: At 9:18am CET we were informed about a second boat in distress. We continuously tried to reach the boat but couldn’t establish a connection. At 10:40am we received their GPS position. At 10:50am we called Salvamento Marítimo and passed the information. At 11:55am the contact person confirmed the rescue to Spain.

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