09/01: 27 travellers missing in the Alboran Sea

10.01.2022 / 14:00 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 9th January 2022

Case name: 2022_01_09-WM009

Situation: 27 travellers in distress in the Alboran Sea, still missing after many days of ongoing research.

Status of WTM Investigation: Fate unclear

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary: On Sunday the 9th of January 2022, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of 27 travellers, 18 men and nine women, in distress in the Western Mediterranean Sea. The travellers had left from around Nador the previous morning on a white rubber boat, heading towards Almeria. We were not able to establish a direct contact to the travellers, but immediately relayed the information we had to the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo, who confirmed that they were searching for the boat. In a call to the Moroccan rescue authorities, they also confirmed to be looking for the boat. We were never able to reach the travellers, but during the next many days we stayed in close contact with relatives who became increasingly worried as time passed. We reached out to both Moroccan and Spanish rescue authorities many times, but were not able to establish what had happened to the travellers. According to the information we were able to obtain, no boat matching this description was rescued to Spain or intercepted. The travellers thus remain missing, and we have to fear the worst. If we manage to get more information about the fate of the travellers, we will update this report.

Tweets about the case: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1480277016645677063

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