19/01: 5 travellers, all men, started from Al Hoceima and were rescued to Motril

20.01.2021 / 14:27 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 19th of January 2021

Case name: 20211901-WM558

Situation: 5 men started with a zodiac from Al Hoceima and were rescued by Salvamento Maritimo to Motril, Spain

Status of WTM Investigation: concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:

On 19th of January 2021 at 14h CET the Alarm Phone was called by a community member. The man told that 5 men started this day at 3h from Al Hoceima in a zodiac. At 10h they were supposed to have reached international waters. The man passed two names of the travellers. The Alarm Phone passed all this information to the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo via phone and email. It wasn’t possible to reach the travellers. At 17.56h CET Salvamento Maritimo in Madrid informed that their organisation had rescued 2 boats today but none matched to the 5 persons. We also found information about rescues on social media, but again, no correlation. Finally at 20.49h CET we learned from the community member that the persons have been rescued by Salvamento Maritimo to Motril. Boza!

Last update: 12:51 Apr 29, 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