16/05: Two women and nine men in distress off Ashakar, intercepted to Morocco

17.05.2021 / 16:11 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – May 16th 2021

Case name: 2021_05_16-WM606

Situation: 11 people in distress off the coast of Ashakar returned to Morocco 10hours after the initial alert to authorities.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of Case

In the morning of May 16th a relative of people at sea alerted us to a boat carrying two men and nine men in distress off Ashakar. At the time of the call people in the boat related water had started entering their raft which had no motor. We alerted authorities at 10.15 CEST and continuously forwarded updated GPS positions of the distress case. We lost direct contact to the boat at 10.25 CEST but kept in touch with the relative who had informed us of the travellers’ distress at sea. Throughout the day MRCC Rabat asserted they were looking for the boat but provided no details. At 19.44 CEST MRCC Rabat confirmed the interception of a boat matching the description of our distress case to Morocco. At 20.40 CEST the travellers on the boat informed us they had been returned to Morocco.

Tweets:

May 16th

13.58 CEST

21.35 CEST

Last update: 16:25 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