04/11: 30 people left Dahkla, arrived on Canary Islands

05.11.2020 / 16:34 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 4th of November 2020

Case name: 20201104-WM521

Situation: 30 people left Dhakla on 1st November and arrived on Canary Islands on 5th November

Status of WTM Investigation: concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:

On 4th of November 2020 at 22:23h CET the Alarm Phone was called by a community member searching for his friends. He told they have left Dakhla on 1st November in a white fisher boat. The last contact to the people on board were at 1st November at 22h CET.

In the early hours of 5th November the Alarm Phone received the number of the travellers but it was incomplete so no contact could be established. At 08:38h Salvamento Maritimo (SM) in Las Palmas was called. The officer was very friendly and noted all information and asked the shift team to write an email which was done shortly after. The officer also advised to call the respective Guardia Civil which was done at 09:11h. They were informed by SM Las Palmas and didn’t know about the case before. They asked the shift team to stay in touch with them and inform them about news.

In the next hours the Alarm Phone tried to get a proper telephone number of the people on board, unsuccessful.

At 22:09 h CET, the Alarm Phone was told by the community member who initially reported about the boat that two travellers confirmed their arrival on the Canaries.

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