28/10: 6 travellers rescued to Spain

29.10.2020 / 18:05 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations –28th October 2020

Case name: 2020_10_28-WM514

Situation: 6 travellers that had departed from Temsaman Beach, Al Hoceima, were rescued to Motril. 

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: In the late evening of Wednesday the 28th of February the Alarm Phone was alerted to a grey rubber boat in distress that had departed in the early afternoon from Al Hoceima, Morocco, carrying 5 or 6 travellers. Our shift team tried to establish direct contact with the travellers, but their phones were unfortunately not reachable. At 22h50 CET we therefore informed the Spanish Search and Rescue organisation Salvamento Marítimo (SM) via phone and via email about the case. Later in the night we spoke with a relative of one of the travellers that clarified that the people on board were 5, and not 6 as previously mentioned. Further, we were told that the travellers were close to Motril. Our shift team immediately passed on this information to SM via email and then by phone. When we called SM at 2h56 CET,  the officer who answered our call suggested that we tell the travellers to call emergency number 112. A few minutes later, at 3h25 CET SM called us back and told us that their Search and Rescue airplane who was checking the area had found a boat with 5 people on boat. The boat seemed to be following a merchant vessel, we were thus asked to ask the relative who contacted us to ask the people if they could see the airplane and vessel. The relative then confirmed to us that the boat was next to the vessel. We called back SM to pass this information and the officer confirmed that the merchant vessel would stay near by until a rescue ship would arrive. At 06h44 SM confirmed that the people had been rescued ! They were finally 6 travellers and not 5.
Last update: 09:19 Feb 15, 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