28/01: Ten people departed from Mostaganem, Algeria, rescued to Cartagena

29.01.2021 / 09:24 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 2021

Case name: 202010128-WM565

Situation: Ten people departed from Mostaganem, Algeria, rescued to Cartagena

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of Case
At 16.45 CET on January 28th Alarm Phone was alerted to a boat in distress carrying 10 people who had departed from Mostaganem, Algeria. The relatives who alerted us to this case were very worried as, according to their information, the boat should have arried in the morning of January 28th and they had remained without knowledge of their family members. We received phone numbers of the people on the boat but could not establish direct contact. At 18.45 CET we forwarded the information provided by the relatives to authorities, who refused to provide any information on ongoing operations; we called again at 21.25 CET with the same result. MRCC Madrid requested that we send another e-mail with the information available, which we did. We were unable to establish contact to the boat throughout the night.

In the morning of January 29th we called SM Almería who refused to provide any information on rescues during the night and recommended us to call Cruz Roja – who did not provide any information. Upon calling the Regional Coordination Center of the Guardia Civil Almería and the Policia Nacional we were refused all information. At 10.19 CET one of the relatives of the people on the boat informed us that the Cruz Roja had confirmed knowledge of the case to them but could not confirm whether the boat had arrived or not. We e-mailed authorities in Madrid, who again referred us to the Spanish Red Cross. We were still unable to establish contact to the boat.

By the morning of January 30th we still had not been able to get in touch with people on the boat. At 08.50 CET we called authorities in Cartagena (Murcia) but were refused all information. At 15.46 CET one of the relatives informed us that they had been able to get in touch with their family member, and all ten people had arrived to Cartagena harbour, Spain safely.
Credibility: UP DOWN 0
Layers »
  • 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

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