08/01 : Two boats leaving from Tangier brought back to Morocco

09.01.2020 / 13:13 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 08th of January 2020
Case name: 2020_01_08-WM444
Situation: Two boats each carrying 10 people left from Tanger, rescued to Morocco
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:
On Wednesday the 8th of January the Alarm Phone was alerted to two groups of travellers, each consisting of 10 people, who had left from Tangier. Both groups were taken back to Morocco by the Moroccan navy.

At 05:51h CET our team was called by a man on a boat, informing us that they were 10 travellers at sea, including one pregnant women. The boat left from Tanger the previous evening between 20h and 21h. The travellers were very cold and needed help. The person on board described the boat as a „ramé-ramé“, meaning that the travellers were rowing and did not have a motor.
At 08:16h we called the Spanish Search and Rescue organisation Salvamento Marítimo (SM) in Tarifa. SM told us that the boat was in Moroccan waters, and that they would not search for the people on board.
Since this moment we weren't able to reach the boat directly anymore.
At 09:27h SM informed us that they informed the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) in Rabat about the boat.
At 11:35h we called MRCC Rabat, who told us that they had found the boat at 9:00h with 10 subsaharan people including 1 women.
At 15:58h one of the people on board that we tried to stay in contact with told us that they were rescued by the Morrocan Navy, and confirmed that they were all fine.

At 11.02am Alarm Phone was called by a relative of a person on a boat who left from Tangier at around 3.00am. He did not have a lot of information to provide, but gave us a phone number of one of the travellers and informed us that the travellers were rowing.
We called the number of the travellers repeatedly but no one picked up. We were never able to establish a direct contact to the boat.
The relative asked us to alert the Spanish Search and Rescue organisation Salvamento Marítimo (SM) as the travellers were rowing since 9 hours. At 12.20pm we called SM Tarifa. They took the info, and said that they would try to reach the boat and call MRCC Rabat.
At 5.05pm the relative told us that the travellers had been intercepted by the Morrocan Navy.

Last update: 12:29 Mar 05, 2020

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