30/09: two boats heading to Spain, only one reached it

01.10.2019 / 08:53 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 30th of September 2019

Case name: 2019_09_30-WM419
Situation: 8 travellers reached Spain, 3 brought back to Morocco
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:
On 30th of September, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to two boats leaving from around Tangier. At 03:27h CEST the shift team was informed by a contact person about a boat carrying 8 people, among them one women. After several calls the travellers managed to provide the shift team with a GPS position and Salvamento Marítimo (SM) has been informed at 10:27h CEST. Rescue was confirmed around 2 hours later.
Meanwhile the Alarm Phone was informed about another boat with 3 persons. When the shift team spoke to SM Tarifa at 13:10h CEST they stated to be already informed about that case. The shift team could follow the flight route of an arial asset of SM which left the scene an hour later. At 15:04h CEST the Alarm Phone was in contact with the boat the last time, the travellers were still on water. The next day the shift team called SM Tarifa to find out what happened to the boat. They only could tell that a lot of boats with 3 persons were rescued either by Moroccan Navy or Salvamento Marítimo. 12:47h CEST the Alarm Phone got the confirmation by relatives of the people on board of the boat that the boat was intercepted by Moroccan Navy and brought back to Morocco.

Last update: 16:32 Nov 03, 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