20/09: 5 travellers at sea for more than 36 hours, finally rescued to Motril

21.09.2020 / 22:42 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 20th September 2020
Case name: 2020_09_20-WM485
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to boat with 5 travellers from Al Hoceima, finally rescued and brought to Motril.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean
Summary
On Sunday the 20th of September at 23.18 CET, the Alarm Phone was alerted by a relative to a boat carrying five travellers. The travellers had left from Al Hoceima at around 06.00 the same morning and were heading towards Motril. Over the following hour we gathered more information from the relative about the distress case. We were informed that the travellers had last had contact to their families at around 21.00 and at this time their engine was already broken. Neither we nor the relative was able to reach the travellers, and despite continuously trying we never managed to establish direct contact to the boat. At 00.39 we called the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo and alerted them to the distress of the travellers. They told us that they were already aware of the situation. However, they refused to commence a search and rescue operation without receiving a position of the boat. In a call to Salvamento Maritimo at 02.31 they told us that they were working on the case, but were not willing to tell us which efforts were made to localise the travellers. Throughout the night they refused to give us any more information. At 08.17 we called the Spanish guardia civil and informed them about the travellers. They were also aware of the case but told us that they were not carrying out search and rescue in the area. At 08.35 we called the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Morocco who told us that they had not rescued a boat matching our description, but that there were ongoing search and rescue operations in the area. At 13.30 we called the Moroccan rescue authorities again who told us that a vessel was about to disembark rescued travellers but that they did not yet have information about the rescue operations. However, in the evening at 18.15 they told us that the boat we were looking for was not amongst the ones rescued.
We stayed in contact with relatives and with the authorities and continuously tried reaching the travellers. In addition we published information about the case on social media and drew attention to the fact that we were not able to get a clear confirmation that search and rescue efforts were being made to ensure the safety of the travellers.
Only at 13.45 the following day did we receive confirmation from Salvamento Maritimo that the travellers had been rescued and brought to Motril, after spending over 36 hours at sea.



Tweets about the case:
“Yesterday night, a relative informed Alarm Phone of a boat departed from #AlHoceima, with 5 people on board. We immediately alerted authorities.
@salvamentogob
went to search them this morning, but since then no news. The search for the missing must continue!”
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1308135401501097984?s=21
Last update: 22:50 Jan 13, 2021
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

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