11/01: 67 travellers intercepted in the Atlantic Sea by the Moroccan navy

12.01.2022 / 17:57 / Atlantic

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 11th January 2022

Case name: 2022_01_11-ATL006

Situation: 67 travellers in distress in the Atlantic Sea, intercepted by the Moroccan navy despite being localised by Salvamento Maritimo.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Atlantic Sea

Summary: On Tuesday the 11th of January 2022, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of 67 travellers, 28 men, 30 women of which two pregnant, and nine children, in distress in the Atlantic Sea. The travellers had left from Boujdour the previous day in the early hours of the morning on a wooden boat, heading towards the Canary Islands. We were not able to establish direct contact to the travellers but alerted the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo to the distress situation. Salvamento Maritimo confirmed that they would send an aircraft to look for the travellers. At 10.37 CET Salvamento Maritimo informed us that they had localised a boat matching the description we had provided. We were able to confirm with the travellers on the phone that the boat spotted was the same as we had been alerted to. In a second call we managed to get the GPS position of the travellers which we immediately relayed to Salvamento Maritimo. In response to this, Salvamento Maritimo told us that the Moroccan rescue authorities would carry out the rescue operation. At 21.10 CET the Moroccan rescue authorities confirmed to us that a rescue operation was ongoing. We stayed in contact with the travellers and were able to relay their updated GPS positions to the rescue authorities. In the late evening, Salvamento Maritimo told us that their aircraft was on scene as the Moroccan navy was intercepting the travellers. The interception was soon after confirmed by the relative of the travellers.

Tweets:
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1480841243596832769?s=09
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1480940844962271236:
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1481021229599502338
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1481178807788789762

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