20/10: 52 travellers in distress in the Atlantic Sea, fate unclear

21.10.2021 / 13:22 / Atlantic Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 20th October 2021

Case name: 2021_10_20-WM760

Situation: 52 travellers in distress in the Atlantic Sea, their fate remains unclear.

Status of WTM Investigation: unclear outcome

Place of Incident: Atlantic Sea

Summary: On Wednesday the 20th of October 2021, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of 52 travellers, including 13 women and one child, in distress in the Atlantic Sea. The travellers had left in the early morning of the 17th of October from around Tan Tan, heading towards Lanzarote on a green rubber boat. We were not able to establish direct contact to the boat, but informed the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo about the distress of the travellers. We were not able to get any news about the boat neither from Salvamento Maritimo nor from the Moroccan rescue authorities. After many days of attempting to reach the travellers or get news from the authorities, we had to close the case without knowing what happened to the travellers. We hope very much that they made it to shore safely. Our research is still ongoing, and if we find out what happened to the boat, we will update this report.

Last update: 18:32 Jun 05, 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