14/01: 55 travellers from Laayoune rescued to Fuerteventura.

15.01.2021 / 13:57 / Western Mediterranean Sea / Canary Islands

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations –14 January 2021

Case name: 20210114-WM549
Situation: 55 travellers from Layoune rescued to Fuerteventura.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea
Summary of the Case: In the early afternoon of Thursday the 14th of January, the Alarm Phone was alerted to a rubber boat in distress by a relative of one of the travellers on board. There were 58 travellers, including 5 women and 3 children, who had departed from Laayoune in Morocco. After having unsuccessfully tried to establish contact with the travellers, at 15:45h CET we alerted the Spanish Search and Rescue organisation Salvamento Marítimo (SM) and alerted them about the case. SM told us that they were searching but they had not found any boats. The following night SM told us that a boat with around 55-56 people had been rescued to Fuerteventura. These seemed like our boat and a few hours later the relative that had first alerted us told us that he had spoken to one of the travellers who confirmed the rescue.

Last update: 14:37 Apr 28, 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