25/03: 11 travelers started from Al Hoceima, rescue to Motril by Salvamento Marítimo

26.03.2021 / 12:22 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 25th of March 2021

Case name:2021_03_25-WM573

Situation: 11 travelers left from Al Hoceima, rescued to Motril by Salvamento Marítimo.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the case: On the 25th of March 2021 at 16:59h CET, the Alarm Phone was informed about a boat carrying eight to ten travelers (in the end it turned out they were eleven). The person calling had lost contact to them. They had left from Al Hoceima, Morocco on a grey zodiac in the early morning at 05:00h CET. They were heading towards Motril, Spain. Our shift team received three phone numbers from the boat, but no GPS location. For the next hours, our shift team tried to get in touch with the travellers, to find out more about the situation, but without success. At 00:25h CET, the caller informed us that they had gotten through to the people, They were drifting close to Motril, because they had run out of fuel. At 00:50h CET, we informed the
Spanish Search and Rescue organization Salvamento Marítimo in Tarifa and Almería via e-mail. At 05:00h CET, the person who had informed us reported that the travelers had been rescued. There were eleven people and they were brought to Motril.

Last update: 10:41 Aug 22, 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