21/01: travellers from Western Sahara probably reached Canary Islands

22.01.2021 / 14:32 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 21st of January 2021

Case name: 20212101-WM559

Situation: unknown number of travellers started from Western Sahara, research were done for 3 days but no clear outcome, probably rescued to Canary Islands

Status of WTM Investigation: concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:

On 21st of January 2021 the Alarm Phone was contacted by a family member. She lost contact to her relatives and only had a GPS position from 11.30h CET this day, showing the boat 80nm south of Gran Canaria. The telephone numbers of the travellers never could be reached. At 17.49h we inform the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo via email about the case. After that we spoke to them and learned that they are informed about a boat with the same telephone numbers. They had been searching for it with no result.

On 22nd of January 2021 the Alarm Phone contacted Salvamento Maritimo in Madrid and were told they have searched the area with an aircraft and would continue this.

On the next day, 23rd of January 2021, a lot of boats were rescued to the Canary Islands. As there was big lack of information we had about the boat it would not be possible to identify them among the rescued ones. We decided to close the case.

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