23/01: 30 travellers started from Boujdour to reach Spain, came back to the coast of Morrocco autonomously

24.01.2021 / 14:38 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 23rd of January 2021

Case name: 20212301-WM560

Situation: a group of 30 travellers started from Boujdour but have to return to the coast due to weather conditions

Status of WTM Investigation: concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:

On 23rd of January 2021 at 10.10h CET the Alarm Phone got called by a relative. The person said to have spoken one hour ago to a group of 30 persons on their way to Spain. The weather recently have changed and they are unable to control the wooden fishing boat. The person couldn’t provide the Alarm Phone with a GPS position. Moreover, all numbers of the travellers weren’t reachable. At 12.01h CET the shift team called the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) on Las Palmas. The officer said to be informed already about the boat and they have a GPS position which they had passed to Marine Royal. Additionally they have sent a rescue vessel. When the Alarm Phone called two hours later the officer was too busy to give information. Later that day SM replied via email that the group of 30 people arrived autonomously at the coast of Boujdor.

Last update: 12:52 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