08/02: 81 travelers in distress from Bouyafar, rescued to Spain.

09.02.2020 / 10:13 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations - 8th February 2020
Case name: 2020_02_08- WM451
Situation: 81 travelers in distress from Bouyafar, rescued to Spain.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

On the 8th of February at 6:02pm CET the Alarm Phone was altered to a boat in distress with 68 travelers, 26 women (8 pregnant) and 6 babies who have left from Bouyafar between 11pm and midnight the previous night. The relative who informed us about the boat was worried about them because he lost contact with the boat the previous night at 4am. After several attempts of trying to contact the travelers we received a confirmation from the relative of the travelers at 22:02pm that they had arrived at the Spanish island Alboran. At 11:15pm we received a confirmation from Salvamento Maritimo Almeria that they had rescued a boat with 39 women and 5 children in Alboran. Shortly after we called Salvamento Maritimo Madrid who confirmed to us that they had rescued 81 people in the Alboran waters. Unfortunately we were not able to receive a confirmation from the travelers themselves.

Last update: 22:35 Jun 22, 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