19/03: Boat carrying 8 people in distress, returned to Morocco

20.03.2019 / 20:49 / Western Mediterranean, Morocco/Spain

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 19th of March 2019

Case name: 2019_03_19-WM380
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 Tuesday, the 19th of March 2019, the Alarm Phone was alerted at around noon to a boat that had left from Tangier/Morocco during the night, with 8 people on board. We received a phone number of the people on board and reached them at noon. The man we spoke to reported that they had informed the Moroccan Navy already but nobody had come to their rescue. We asked them to send us their current location. We spoke to them again at 12.17h CET and they reported that they could see a vessel nearby. They again confirmed that they had called the Moroccan authorities repeatedly.

We called the Moroccan authorities at 12.30h and they stated that they knew about the boat and had started an investigation. We in turn informed the people on board about what the authorities had told us. We also informed MRCC Madrid, at 12.36h, who stated that the boat was in an area of Moroccan responsibility. When we received the GPS position of the boat, we informed also MRCC Tarifa, at 12.52h. A few minutes later, the calls for help from the boat became more urgent. We passed their position on to the Moroccan authorities at 12.57h. They could not give us an Estimated Time of Arrival but stated that they were searching for it. We spoke to the travellers at 12.58h and asked them to remain calm. They described their boat as a yellow and blue rubber boat without an engine. This information we again passed on to the Moroccan authorities.

When we spoke to the travellers at 13.26h, they seemed calmer. They said they could see a container vessel nearby called Cape Race. They also reported of a military vessel nearby which, however, seemed to leave the area. We received an updated GPS position and passed it on to the Moroccan authorities, and we did so again at 14h.

At 14.15h, the travellers grew increasingly frustrated that no help was coming despite everyone being well informed. They were exhausted and asked for immediate rescue. At 14.40h we once more spoke to the Moroccan authorities and demanded rapid action. Again the authorities confirmed that they were taking action but could not make promises. We spoke to MRCC Tarifa at 14.53h to make the case that the Moroccan authorities were not adequately responding to the distress situation. MRCC Tarifa confirmed that they would ask the Moroccan Navy to engage. At 15h, we spoke again to the passengers who said that no rescue was in sight. We then made the situation public via Twitter and asked authorities for immediate engagement.

After 15.50h we lost contact to the boat for several hours. We again informed MRCC Rabat and only received excuses. Only at 18.35h did we again hear from the boat. We received a voice message saying that they could see a large vessel moving toward them. At 18.36h, the Spanish Salvamento Maritimo called us and offered to send a helicopter to the distressed. A few minutes later, however, the people on the boat confirmed that they had just been found by the Moroccan Navy.
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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