6/2: WM 2 boats carrying 7 & 5 people left from Tangier, rescued to Spain

07.02.2019 / 08:16 / Western Mediterrean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 6th of February 2019
Case name: 2019_02_06-WM373
Situation: 2 boats carrying 7 & 5 people left from Tangier, rescued to Spain
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Wednesday the 6th of February 2019 the Alarm phone shift team was alerted to two boats carrying 7 & 5 people which had left from Tangier. They were both later rescued by the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo.

At 7:25am CET the shift team was alerted to a boat carrying 7 people. Despite being given phone numbers for the travellers onboard, we were unable to make direct contact with the boat. At around 9:45am we saw evidence on vesselfinder of what could have been a search and rescue operation by SM in the area where we expected the boat to be. Rescue by SM was later confirmed by the contact person for the case.

At 9:55am we received information about a boat carrying 5 people which had left from Tangier at 5am. We stayed in communication with the contact person and the travellers and at 11:22am we talked to the travellers. We learned that they were exhausted and could not continue, so we called SM for help. At 12:11pm we received confirmation from the boat they had been rescued to Spain by SM.

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