04/01: 13 travelers leave from Oran, fate unclear.

05.01.2022 / 13:44 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 4th January 2022

Case name: 2022_01_04-WM005

Situation: 13 travelers (1 child of 6 years) leave from Oran, Algeria. Unclear if they have been brought to Europe or pushed back to Algeria.

Status of WTM Investigation: Unconfirmed

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the case:

On the 4th January 2022, the Alarm Phone received a call from a family member of someone on a boat. They reported about 13 travelers (among them one child of six years). According to the relative, they had left Oran on the 2nd January around 19 CET. On the evening of the 3rd, when they had been in contact the last time, their engine had been off or broken. Our shift team received a phone number from the boat, but could never get through to them. Our shift team alerted the Spanish Search and Rescue organization Salvamento Marítimo (SM) in Madrid and Palma de Mallorca. We received the information that there had been several rescues to Almería within the last days, but we could not find out if this case had been amongst them. Our shift team also contacted the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) in Algiers, but without result. We had to close the case without a confirmation of their rescue. It is also possible that they were pushed back to Algeria.

Last update: 13:49 Aug 22, 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