04/08: Around 61 travellers intercepted and brought back to Western Sahara.

05.08.2021 / 20:11 / Atlantic Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 4th August 2021
Case name: 2021_08_04-WM658
Situation: Around 61 travellers in distress in the Atlantic, intercepted and brought back to Western Sahara by the Moroccan Navy.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary On Wednesday the 4th of August 2021 in the morning, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by relatives to a group of around 61 people, including around 20 women and some children, in distress in the Atlantic Sea. The travellers had left from Boujdour the night before on a rubber boat. We initially managed to reach the travellers, but due to bad connection it was not possible to get their exact GPS position. All we could hear during the call was that the travellers were panicking, shouting that they were in distress and that water was entering their boat. At 10.33 CEST we informed the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo via email and phone about the situation, passing on all information we had. In a phone call to Salvamento Maritimo at 12.04 CEST they confirmed to us that they were searching for the boat with an aircraft.
However, in the evening at 20.25 CEST we learned from the relatives that the travellers had been intercepted by the Moroccan Navy and brought back to Western Sahara.

Last update: 20:14 Mar 01, 2022

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