17/09: 47 travellers rescued to Las Palmas by Salvamento Maritimo

18.09.2021 / 13:36 / Atlantic Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 17th September 2021

Case name: 2021_09_17WM713

Situation: 47 travellers in distress in the Atlantic Sea, rescued by Salvamento Maritimo and brought to Las Palmas.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Atlantic Sea

Summary: On Friday the 17th of September 2021, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of 47 travellers, 37 men and 10 women, in distress in the Atlantic Sea. The travellers had left from Laayoune the same morning at 04.40 CEST on a grey rubber boat, heading towards the Canary Islands. The engine had broken down and the relative told us that they had no food onboard. After midnight, we managed to reach the travellers directly, but the connection was very bad. The only thing we were able to understand was that the travellers were in urgent need of assistance. Only at 01.35 CEST did we manage to get the GPS position of the boat, which we immediately forwarded, together with all other information we had, to the Moroccan rescue authorities as well as the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo. At 04.04 CEST we managed to reach the travellers. Again, the connection was very bad, and we were only able to understand that they were still in distress. At 06.06 CEST we spoke to Salvamento Maritimo, who informed us that they were sending a boat towards the latest known position of the travellers. At 11.10 CEST the travellers told us that they could see the vessel of Salvamento Maritimo approaching. In a call to Salvamento Maritimo shortly after, they confirmed that the rescue operation was being carried out.
We later learned that the travellers had been brought to Las Palmas.

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