10 people in distress in Moroccan waters, intercepted by the Moroccan Navy

27.05.2015 / 18:19 / Western Mediterranean Sea, Morocco

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigation – 26th of May 2015

Case name: 2015_05_26-WM9
Situation: Distress call from the Western Mediterranean Sea, interception by Moroccan Navy
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea, near Morocco

Summary of the Case: On Tuesday, the 26th of May 2015, the shift team of the Alarm Phone received a distress call in the early morning from 10 people on a vessel, including two women and one baby. They had left Morocco in the night and were in urgent need of rescue. The shift team alerted the Spanish rescue agency Salvamento Maritimo to the case and passed on the received information. In another phone conversation, the passengers state that they saw a black vessel in vicinity. In the meantime Salvamento Maritimo confirmed that they were searching for the vessel but had not detected it yet.

Shortly afterwards, the passengers called again, stating that they had been intercepted by the Moroccan navy. Salvamento Maritimo confirmed that the vessel in question had been intercepted by the Moroccans and suggested that they expected more vessels to be in distress in the area so that they would stay on alert.

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