05/07: Boat carrying 9 people in distress, returned to Morocco

06.07.2019 / 18:46 / Western Mediterranean, Morocco/Spain

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 5th of July 2019

Case name: 2019_07_05-WM402
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 Friday the 5th of July 2019, our Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a contact person at 9.13h CEST to a boat in distress, carrying 9 people. It had left from Achakar during the night. We tried to contact the boat repeatedly but were unable to get through. Finally, we received an updated GPS position of the boat around 17h, and the information that the people on board were tired and needed to be rescued even if this meant being returned to Morocco. We were able to alert the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) at 17.28h and passed on the position of the boat. When we received an updated position, we forwarded it to SM at 18.09h. We spoke to MRCC Rabat at 19.18h and they confirmed knowledge of the situation and that a SAR operation had been launched. At 19.58h, MRCC Rabat stated again that they were looking for the boat. At 20.28h, our contact person stated that the boat had been found and everyone was doing ok. The people were 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