25/03: 13 travelers started from Algeria, rescue to Mallorca by Salvamento Marítimo Palmas

26.03.2021 / 12:28 / Western Mediterranean Sea

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

Case name:2021_03_25-WM575

Situation: 13 travelers left from Algeria, rescued to Mallorca by Salvamento Marítimo.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the case:On the 25th of March at 23:44h CET, the Alarm Phone was called by a group of 13 travelers (all men) in distress. They had started from Algeria towards Mallorca. At 23:56h CET, we talked to them again, and they tried to pass us a GPS location, but the connection broke off and we could only re-establish the contact at 01:05h CET. The travelers said they were suffering and managed to pass us the complete GPS location. It was in the Spanish Search and Rescue zone. At 01:20h CET, we called the Spanish Search and Rescue organization Salvamento Marítimo (SM) in Palma de Mallorca and informed them about the distress case. We also sent them a e-mail. We could not get through to the people on the boat anymore. At 02:30h CET, we called SM Palma again and learned that they had sent out a helicopter and a rescue vessel towards the indicated position. At 02:49, we could talk to the travelers again and they reported to see a helicopter. The connection was too bad to receive a new GPS location. At 08:01h CET, we called SM Palma de Mallorca and they confirmed the rescue of the 13 men who were all in good condition. They were brought to Mallorca.

Last update: 10:47 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