02/11: 30 people in distress on Atlantic route, rescued by Salvamento Marítimo

03.11.2021 / 07:23 / Atlantic

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – November 2nd 2021

Case name: 2021_11_02-WM771

Situation: One child, three women and ~27 men drifting East of Lanzarote, rescued to Fuerteventura

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Atlantic

Summary of Case: In the late afternoon of November 2nd a group of one child, three women and 27 men in distress called us. They had departed Laayoune and their boat had started to take water, their motor was not functioning and the weather was deteriorating. It was not possible to receive a GPS position; we alerted authorities at 18.43 CEST. At 08.40 CEST November 3rd we managed to receive a GPS position from the people in distress, which we passed on to authorities. In the evening, the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo informed us that they had rescued a boat corresponding to the description we had been given by the travellers. In the early hours of the morning a relative informed us that the travellers had arrived to Spain and were all safe.

Tweets

November 3rd

11.29 CET

November 4th

12.01 CET

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