02/09: 6 men from Achakar rescued by Moroccan Navy

03.09.2019 / 12:00 / Western Mediterrean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 9th of September 2019
Case name: 2019_09_02-WM414
Situation: 6 men from Achakar rescued by Moroccan Navy
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:

At 2:40pm CEST the Alarmphone shift team was alerted to a boat carrying 6 men who had left from Achakar, Morocco. We made contact with the boat and got a first GPS position of the boat. we also received a voice message from the people on the boat saying that they had no engine just paddles, the waves were too much for them and asking for rescue. We were unable to make further contact with the boat so alerted the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM). We also alerted the Moroccan search and rescue centre as they were in Moroccan waters and urgently asking for rescue.We received a new position from the boat at 4:57pm that showed that they were drifting southwest which we shared with the Moroccan search & rescue centre who said they would launch a search and rescue operation. Over the next hours we shared updated coordinates as we received them and were told by the the morrocan search & rescue that they were forwarding everything to the Moroccan navy At 11:43pm the Moroccan Navy contacted us to confirm that they had rescued 6 Sub-saharan men at 8:35pm local time at the last position we provided them, but had returned them to Morocco.

Last update: 19:31 Oct 22, 2019

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