06/07: 20 travelers started from Al Hoceima, intercepted by Moroccan Navy

07.07.2020 / 19:58 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 6th of July 2020
Case name: 2020_07_06-WM466
Situation: approx. 20 travelers in distress, left from Al Hoceima, Morocco, intercepted by Moroccan Navy
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea/ Canary Islands

Summary of the Case:
On 6th July 2020 at 23:43h CEST, the Alarm Phone was informed by a worried relative about a group of 20 travelers in distress. They had started from Al Hoceima, Morocco, around noon. At 23:55h, our shift team called the Spanish Maritime Rescue organization Salvamento Marítimo (SM) in Almeria, who reported not to know of a case that fit our description. They advised us to contact SM Tarifa. We did so at 00:00h, and SM Tarifa stated not to have any information about the boat, either, but said they would search for it and asked for a phone number from the boat. At 00:28h, we talked to the relative, trying to find out more details and a phone number of the travelers. The relative informed us that the people had been intercepted by the Moroccan Navy. We passed this info to SM Tarifa at 00:35h.

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