27/09: Four travellers intercepted by the Algerian coastguard

28.09.2021 / 17:52 / Central Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 27th September 2021

Case name: 2021_09_27-CM578

Situation:Four travellers in distress in the Central Med, intercepted by the Algerian coastguard and brought back to Algeria.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the case: On Monday the 27th of September the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of four travellers in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. The travellers had left two days earlier at around 04.00 CEST from Algeria on a small fiber glass boat. The relative informed us that the travellers did not carry a satellite phone with them, meaning that once they were out of normal phone reception they would no longer be reachable. It was therefore also not possible to obtain their GPS position. The relative told us that he had not spoken to his brother on the boat since they departed. Our shift team attempted several times to reach the mobile phone number provided of the travellers but was never able to establish a direct contact to the boat. We immediately informed all relevant rescue authorities, as we feared for the travellers safety being at sea for more than 48 hours. We asked the Italian coastguard several times via email and phone whether they knew of any rescue operation of a boat matching the description of this case, but never got an answer. In the evening, however, the relative told us that they had been in contact with their brother. The boat had been intercepted by the Algerian coastguard and the travellers were still at the police station at this point.
Credibility: UP DOWN 0
Layers »
  • 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

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