02/10: 48 people in distress in the Straight of Gibraltar, arrived in Spain

03.10.2021 / 17:02 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – October 2nd 2021

Case name: 2021_10_02-WM741

Situation: 48 people departed Bouyafar, rescued from sea by Salvamento Marítimo and brought to Motril

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of Case: In the afternoon of October 2nd Alarm Phone was called by a relative who alerted us to the distress situation of 25 men who had departed Bouyafar in a wooden boat in the same night. We were unable to reach the group of travellers on the boat and forwarded the alert to authorities at 17.02 CEST. We tried to reach the people on the boat throughout the night and following morning, without success. Authorities denied us any information regarding updates on their reaction to our alert. At 14.00 CEST October 3rd the relative who had alerted us related that they had had newS of their family members, and told us the group had been rescued to Motril during the night.

Last update: 21:22 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