17/06: Shipwreck of 46 people off the coast of Lanzarote; four people lose their lives, three are missing

18.06.2021 / 16:25 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 2021

Case name: 202010617-WM632

Situation: 19 women, five children, 22 men in distress close to the town of Orzola. Only 40 people were rescued.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of Case

In the afternoon of June 17th Alarmphone was alerted to a boat in distress carrying 19 women, five children and 22 men which had left from Tantan on June 15th. According to the caller the last contact between the boat and family members had been in the early morning of June 17th. At 17.43 CEST we forwarded the information to the Spanish Search and Rescue organization Salvamento Marítimo (SM) Las Palmas, who had knowledge of this case. At 18.17 CEST Guardia Civil confirmed a rescue asset had left to search for the boat. We continually tried to get in direct contact to the boat but were unable to. Throughout the evening and during our last contact to Spanish authorities at 01.42 CEST June 18th, they confirmed they are still searching for the boat. At 02.30 CEST the relative who alerted us to the case fowards a facebook post documenting the shipwreck of a boat near the port of Orzola, Lanzarote, carrying 19 women and five children, in total 46 people. According to the post the boat had overturned. Three people are missing, four lost their lives at sea. The remaining people were rescued by Salvamento Marítimo.

Tweets

June 18th

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