07/05: a boat coming from Mostaganem, Algeria, with Syrian travellers, reached Spain

08.05.2021 / 17:00 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 7th of May 2021

Case name: 2021_05_07-WM605

Situation: a boat with Syrian travellers, started from Mostaganem, Algeria, and reached Spain

Status of WTM Investigation: concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:

In the morning of May 7th, Alarm Phone was called by a relative of a person who was in a boat starting from Mostaganem in Algeria. He didn’t know the exact number of travellers on board, only that they departed in the late evening of May 6th on a rubber boat and they were all from Syria. There were many rescue operations in the region this day, so we tried to get more information about the boat to find out, if they had been rescued during one of those operations. We tried to call the people on board in regular time intervals, but we couldn’t reach them.

At 10:20 CEST, we informed the Spanish authorities about the boat, gave them all the information we had and asked, if they knew anything about the case. No response.

In the afternoon of May 7th, we were informed by a relative, that they have made it safely to Spain. Boza!

Last update: 13:41 Dec 05, 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