01/05: 48 people travel from Boujdour to Fuerteventura, rescued by SM

02.05.2021 / 14:59 / Atlantic / Canary Islands

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 1st of May 2021
Case name: 2021_05_01-WM593
Situation: 48 travelers (2 women, 1 child, 45 men) left from Boujdour towards Fuerteventura, rescued by Salvamento Marítimo.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Atlantic

Summary of the case:
On the 1st of May 2021 at 12:21h CEST, the Alarm Phone was called by a friend of someone on a boat traveling from Boujdour towards Fuerteventura. The person said there were 48 persons on board, among them 2 women, 1 child and 45 men on a grey rubber boat. They had started their journey on the 29th of April around 23:00h local time. The caller had lost contact and was searching for information. At 14:05h CEST, our shift team informed the Spanish Search and rescue organization Salvamento Marítimo (SM) in Las Palmas via phone call and e-mail. In the evening, the person who had alerted us, said that the travelers had arrived to Fuerteventura. However, we could not confirm this with SM, because there was no rescue with a matching number of people.

Last update: 11:36 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