14/03 11 people intercepted off the coast of Laayoune

15.03.2021 / 09:57 / Atlantic Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 14th March 2021
Case name: 2021_03_14-W571
Situation: 11 people rescued by the Marine Royale off the coast of Laayoune
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:
At 08:38 CET on 14 March we were contacted by a boat in distress. The boat had departed from Laayoune but had run into difficulties. There were technical problems with the phone system and we were not able to record the phone number. We were also unable to establish the boat position, but we knew that it could not be far from the coast as they were still able to phone us. We were told that there were 10 travellers on board a grey plastic boat.
We did what we could to get back in touch with the boat or find out more information about it, without much success. At 10:45 a relative of one of the travellers got in touch to give us information. They did not have a GPS position for us, but were in sporadic contact with the boat. They passed on a phone number, but we were unable to reach the travellers. Over the next hour or so, we found out a little more information about the boat. We discovered that there were two women on board and that the boat was only about 8 km from its starting point. It had left at dawn that morning.
We got in touch with MRCC Rabat by email to provide information about the boat and asked them to arrange a search and rescue operation. Shortly before midday they told us that they were carrying out a rescue of a grey plastic boat carrying 11 people. The relative of the travellers also told us that he was informed that rescue was underway.

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