17/02 : 2 Boats left from Dakhla, one probably rescued to Las Palmas, the other capsized resulting in 14 travellers drowning

18.02.2020 / 22:14 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 17th of February 2020
Case name: 2020_02_14-WM454
Situation: Two boats with respectively 37ppl and 28 ppl including 4 children left from Dakhla, 1 probably rescued to Las Palmas, 1 shipwreck : 14 dead and among them 2 children. The survivors were brought back to Dakhla.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:
At 11:13h CET a relative informed us about a boat carrying 37 people. The people had left from Dakhla on the 14th, and no one had had contact with them since. We called Salvamento Maritimo La Palmas and passed on the information we had. They informed us about three boats that had been rescued, but none of them coresponded with the information we had. The next day, at 11:30h CET, as we still could not reach the people on board, we once more called Salvamento Maritimo Las Palmas who informed our team that they had reached one of the phone numbers on the boat. They had received the information that the people were back in Morocco.
Apparently there had been two boats leaving towards the Canary islands; the one we were alerted to, carrying 37 people, and another boat with 28 people on board. At 11:35h CET we talked with the relative about the situation of the boat with 28 people and were informed about a shipwreck. We reached the people from the boat who confirmed that they were 28 people on board, among them 4 children. The day before, their boat had begun to sink. 14 people drowned, among them two children. A fishing boat in the vicinity first provided assistance. After that, the Morrocan Navy came and helped. The 14 surviving people were brought to the police in Dakhla.
At 14:30h our team called Salvamento Maritimo La Palmas to inform them about the shipwreck. They told us that there were 2 boats, one with 37people on board and one with 28 people. According to SM, the 37 people were intercepted, but they did not know the fate of the 28 travellers. At 14:50 we called MRCC Rabat; they confirmed the shipwreck of the 28 people, but did not know anything about the 37 people. At 14:52h CET the relative told our team that the 37 people were rescued to the Canary Islands and brought to Las Palmas. Unfortunately we could not get a confirmation by the travellers themselves.

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