18/01: 62 people in distress on the Atlantic route, rescued to Canary Islands

19.01.2022 / 18:22 / Atlantic

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – January 18th 2022

Case name: 2022_01_18-ATL012

Situation: 17 women, two children, 43 men rescued to Fuerte Ventura by Salvamento Marítimo

WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Atlntic Sea

Summary of Case: In the afternoon of January 18th Alarm Phone was called by a relative who alerted us to a group of 17 women, two children and 43 men in distress. The caller informed us that the group of travelers had departed Laayoune the previous night but had had no news since their departure.

We tried to get in direct contact with the people in distress via the telephone number provided by the relative but were unsuccessful. We forwarded the alert to authorities at 13.21 CET. Over the next hour the group in distress called us several times, relating several GPS positions which we forwarded to authorities. At 15.30 CET the Spanish Search and Rescue organisation Salvamento Marítimo (SM) had sent both a SAR vessel and helicopter to the vicinity of the GPS positions provided by the people in distress. At 16.44 CET the relative who had initially alerted us informed us a rescue vessel had arrived at the place of distress; SM Las Palmas confirmed the rescue of all 62 people at 17.11 CET

Tweets

January 18th

18.09 CET

January 18th

EFE Canarias

17.02 CET

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