26/10: Two boats from Dakhla rescued to the Canary Islands.

27.10.2019 / 18:52 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 26th of October 2019
Case name: 2019_10_26-WM423
Situation: Two boats carrying 32 and 24 travellers rescued by Salvamento Maritimo and brought to the Canary Islands.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Saturday the 26th of October the Alarm Phone was alerted to two groups of travellers, one consisting of 32 travellers including 14 women and four children, and one of 24 people including three women and two children. Both boats had left from Dakhla and were heading towards the Canary Islands. In the end they were both rescued by the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) after very long time at sea, and brought to the Canary islands.

At 12.37pm CET the Alarm Phone was alerted by a relative to a boat carrying 32 people, including 14 women and four children. The boat had left from Dakhla the previous evening at 9.30pm local time heading for the Canary Islands, and the relative had lost contact to the travellers at around 1.30am local time. It had not been possible for the relative at that time to obtain a gps position of the boat. Our shift team tried many times throughout the following days to get in touch with the travellers, but without success.
At 8.48pm the same day we still had no further news about the boat, but decided to alert SM who informed us that they had ongoing operations in the area. Throughout the night and following day we made several calls to SM, but they could not give us any updates about any rescue operation concerning the boat. At 11.51am the next morning they informed us about two rescue operations that had been carried out, but the numbers of travellers didn’t correspond with the information we had received. We were later in the day in contact with the Guardia Civil several times in order to receive more information about whether the travellers we had been alerted to had been rescued, but for a long time this remained unclear. Only at 10.20am the next day (28th of October) did we get confirmation from the Guardia Civil that no rescue had been carried out of a boat with the number of travellers we had been informed about. We therefore called SM again to pass on the information that the boat we had alerted them to was still at sea. They confirmed that a search and rescue operation was ongoing. At 2.10pm we were finally informed by the relative that the travellers had arrived safely to Tenerife, and this was confirmed by SM at 4.26pm.

At 9.43pm another relative alerted us to a boat carrying 24 travellers, including three women and two children who had left from Dakhla at 1am. The relative had last had contact to the boat at 3.30am. We tried calling the travelers many times, but didn’t manage to reach them. At 11.59pm we called SM Tenerife and passed on the information we had. At 3.05am we called SM again, but they could not give us any update about ongoing rescue operations. Throughout the night and morning we kept calling the travellers but without success. At 11.51am we called SM Las Palmas and Gran Canaria, who told us that they had rescued two boats. A few minutes later the relative confirmed that the travellers had been rescued.
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