21/09: One man disappeared swimming from Tangier towards Spain.

22.09.2021 / 15:59 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 21st September 2021

Case name: 2021_09_21-WM721

Situation: One man disappeared swimming from Tangier towards Spain.

Status of WTM Investigation: Unconfirmed

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the case: On the 21st September 2021, the Alarm Phone received a call from a person whose brother was swimming from east of Tangier towards Spain. He had started the day before at 15h00 local time. The man did not have a phone with him. Our shift team alerted the Moroccan Navy, who stated that they were searching the area. During the following days, our shift team tried to find out about the fate of the traveler, and contacted the Moroccan and Spanish authorities and the Spanish Red Cross. There was information about a body that was found off the coast of Melilla, but we could not find out if it was the man we had been informed about.

Eventually, we had to close the case without resolving it.

Last update: 19:59 May 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