15/08: 53 people departed Laayoune, only one woman was rescued to the Canaries

16.08.2021 / 11:26 / Atlantic Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – August 15th 2021

Case name: 20201_08_15-Wm668

Situation 52 people lost their lives at sea

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean / Atlantic

Summary of Case In the early morning of August 15th Alarmphone was alerted to a distress case, one baby, 17 women and around 36 men in a black zodiac. According to the relative who called us, they had left Laayoune on the 13th of August. We informed authorities at 01.35 CEST. The Spanish Search and Rescue organisation Salvamento Marítimo (SM) informed us they were aware of the distress case of 53 people and had launched a SAR mission. We tried to establish direct contact to the boat throughout the night, the following day and night after but were unable to. In the following three days, SM Las Palmas searched for the boat in distress, without avail. In the evening of Augst 19th the Search and Rescue organisation informed us they had taken one women, and two corpses from the sea. On August 20th we learned they had been passengers of the same boat with 53 people which had left Laayoune on August 13th and the woman was the only person to survive.

Tweets

August 16th

21.00 CEST

August 19th

18.36 CEST

August 20th

11.46 CEST

August 23rd

16.33 CEST

Last update: 11:38 Mar 03, 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