27/08: 58 travelers lost between Laayoune and Canary Islands

28.08.2021 / 12:24 / Atlantic

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 27th August 2021

Case name: 2021_08_27-WM680

Situation: 58 travelers ( 13 women (1 of them pregnant) and one child) missing between Laayoune and the Canary Islands.

Status of WTM Investigation: Unconfirmed

Place of Incident: Atlantic

Summary of the case:

On the 27th of August at 01h43 CEST, the Alarm Phone was contacted by a friend of someone on a boat in distress. The friend informed us that 58 travelers had left from Laayoune, Western Sahara, on the 26th August around 03h00 CEST. According to the friend, there were 13 women (1 of them pregnant) and one child on the grey rubber boat. The families had lost contact in the morning of the 26th. Our shift team tried to reach them without success, and we informed the Spanish Search and Rescue organization Salvamento Marítimo (SM) on Las Palmas by e-mail and passed them all info we had. The next day (28th) at noon, the friend reported that the travelers had lost their way and stayed close to the Moroccan coast. Our shift team passed this information on to the authorities. During the next two days, we there were no news from the travelers, and authorities did not find them either. On the 30th, SM informed us about a rescue, but we had evidence that this was not our case. On the 31st, we closed the case and it remained unclear what has has happened to the 58 people.

Twitter Chronology:

28.08.2021, 12h31 CEST: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1431383775703928834

28.08.2021, 17h57 CEST: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1431647167622656000

31.08.2021, 12h15 CEST: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1432648150192377856

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