03/06: 45 travelers left from Tarfaya, Morocco, 15 died during the rescue operation by the Moroccan Navy.

04.06.2021 / 12:09 / Atlantic

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations –3rd June 2021

Case name: 2021_06_03-WM623

Situation: 45 travelers (7 women, 38 men) left from Tarfaya, Morocco on the 30th of May. 15 people died during the rescue operation by the Moroccan Navy.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Atlantic

Summary of the case:

On the 3rd of June 2021 at 15h00 CEST, the Alarm Phone was alerted by a relative to a rubber boat carrying 45 travelers, among them seven women and 38 men. The group had left from Tarfaya, Morocco, towards the Canary Islands on the 30th of May. The last news from the people where that they were exhausted, and their boat was deflating since the day before. By the time they informed us, the relative had lost contact to the people. Our shift team could not get through to the travelers, either. At 16h01 CEST, our shift team informed the Spanisch coast guard Salvamento Marítimo (SM) on Las Palmas by phone call, and sent them all information via e-mail. They had not found the boat, and at that time, they were searching the area with a helicopter. At 16h35h CEST, we informed the Moroccan Navy and learned that they had a Search and Rescue vessel in the area. At 20h20 CEST, we received the information that SM Las Palmas had located a rubber boat with approx. 45 travelers, and that a rescue operation had been started. Also the Moroccan Navy was aware of this distress case. During the night and the next day, our shift teams could not get in touch with the travelers, and on the 4th of June, we learned that the boat had been found between Dakhla and Boujdour.

According to a report by Helena Maleno about the rescue, the Moroccan Navy had picked them up. One of the survivors had expressed what had happened during the rescue: it was carried out very badly and people had fallen into the water and drowned. In total, 15 travelers lost their lifes.

Twitter chronology:

04.06.2021 @00h04 CEST: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1400574129238155266

04.06.2021 @23h09 CEST: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1400922665448361984

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