22/10: 61 travellers rescued to Fuertaventura by Salvamento Maritimo

23.10.2020 / 15:03 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 22nd of October 2020
Case name: 20201022-WM511
Situation: One boat in distress on their way to Spain; rescued and brought to Fuertaventura
Place of incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the case:
On Tursday the 22nd of October at 21.00 CET the Alarm Phone shift team was called by a relative who informed us about a group of 61 travellers who had set off from Western Sahara heading towards the Canary Islands at 04.30 CET the same morning. The relative had last had contact to the boat at around midday. Throughout the night we tried to reach the travellers many times without success. At 09.30 the following morning we passed on the information we had to SM. They asked us to call back 30 minutes later. When we did so, they informed us that they were carrying out a rescue operation of a boat that could belong to this group of travellers. At 11.40 SM confirmed that they had rescued the travellers, and that they would be brought to the south of Fuertaventura.

Last update: 22:28 Feb 07, 2021

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