31/12: ~9 people in distress stranded on the Isla del Congreso, pushed back to Morocco

01.01.2022 / 16:07 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – December 31th 2021

Case name: 2021_12_31-WM819

Situation: 9 people in distress stranded on the Isla del Congreso, pushed back to Morocco

WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of Case: At mid-day of December 31st Alarm Phone was called by relatives alerting us to a group of 9 travelers, including 4 children, 2 women and 3 men. They had departed from Capdur, Algeria in the evening of December 30th.

Shortly after we established contact with the travelers they informed us that they were stranded on the Isla del Congreso, Spain. Their boat had sank and they’d already been stranded on the island for one day. They requested to seek asylum in Spain. Alarm Phone forwarded their claim to legal organizations and human rights groups and publicized the case on social media. We informed the Spanish Search and Rescue organisation Salvamento Marítimo (SM) Almeria and various NGOs about the case. SM said that the mission was ongoing, but were not able to give us more information. Later on SM forwarded us to the Spanish Police Guardia Civil (GC) Almeria but they also did not have any information.

However, when we contacted SM Almeria again at 19:30CET they told us that they were not responsible for rescuing people on land and that we should contact Guardia Civil and the army. CM Melilla also did not have any information and told us to contact Delegacion del Gobierno, the government delegation.

After calling them, they also did not know anything about the case and forwarded us to the Jefatura Superior de Policia, or the Superior Police Department. We also spoke to them on the phone but they told us that they have nothing to do with the case since it is a military island.

In the evening of the 31st of December, we lost contact with the people stranded on the island. On the following day we were able to get in touch with the relatives who informed us that the peoples’ asylum claim was ignored and they had been pushed back to Nador, Morocco.

Tweets:

December 31st 2021 @ 13.43CET

https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1476896753848918019?s=21

December 31st 2021 @ 14.03CET (ES)

https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1476901953502339075?s=21

January 01st 2022 @ 16:08CET

https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1477295578333724676

January 01st 2022 @ 16:08CET (ES)

https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1477295693215772675

Press Release:

https://alarmphone.org/es/2021/12/31/comunicado-sobre-la-situacion-de-las-personas-solicitantes-de-asilo-en-la-isla-del-congreso/

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