23/12: Five people in distress in the Alboran, rescued to Motril

24.12.2020 / 14:24 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 23rd of December 2020
Case name: 2020_12_23-WM543
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to five travellers in the Alboran, rescued by SM and brought to Motril
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Wednesday the 23rd of December at 21.00 CET, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a boat carrying five travellers in distress in the Alboran Sea. The travellers had left the same morning at 03.00 CET on a grey rubber boat from AlHoceima. We tried many times to call the travellers, but were never able to establish a direct contact to the boat. At 22.08 CET we called the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo, alerting them to the boat in distress. In addition to our phone call, we sent them an email with all the relevant information.
Throughout the night the travellers’ phones remained unavailable. The following morning at 08.58 CET we called Salvamento Maritimo again, who told us that they did not have news about the boat but confirmed to be searching the area with their aircraft.
At 09.45 CET the relative confirmed that the boat had been rescued and brought to Motril.

Last update: 18:38 Apr 26, 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