30/12: ~16 people in distress traveling from Algeria, rescued by Salvamento Marítimo

31.12.2021 / 16:04 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – December 30th 2021

Case name: 2021_12_30-WM818

Situation: 16 people, including ca. 4 women and minors in distress on the route to Spain, rescued to Cartagena

WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of Case:
In the evening of December 30th Alarm Phone was called by relatives alerting us to a group of 16 travelers of Algerian origin, including 3 to 4 women and minors in distress. They had departed from Mostaganem, Algeria on the 29th of December and were heading to Cartagena. We alerted the Spanish Search and Rescue organisation Salvamento Marítimo (SM) Almeria at 22.00CET, however they claimed that they cannot do anything, referring us to the Red Cross. We have also tried alerting the Algerian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Oran and Algiers, however we were not able to reach them. Throughout all this time we were not able to establish direct contact with the boat. SM Almeria informed us that the Guardia Civil rescued a boat with 16 people in the Cartagena region. Later on a relative also confirmed to us that they were contacted by their brother that they have been rescued.
Credibility: UP DOWN 0
Layers »
  • 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

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