04/09: 2-3 travellers dead, other intercepted in the Atlantic Ocean

05.09.2022 / 09:37 / Atlantic

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 4th September 2022

Case name: 2022_09_04-ATL100

Situation: 54 travellers in urgent distress in the Atlantic Ocean. 2-3 travellers lost their lives while the others were intercepted by the Moroccan navy.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Atlantic Ocean

Summary of the case: On Sunday the 4th of September 2022, the Alarm Phone shift team received a direct call from a group of 54 travellers, including 10 women and several children, in distress in the Atlantic Ocean. The travellers had left the same morning at around 01.00 CEST from Tan Tan on a blue rubber boat. They told us that they were about to sink, their boat was losing air and people onboard were panicking. We immediately informed the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo as well as the Moroccan rescue authorities about the distress situation, relaying all the information that we had. In the meantime, we stayed in close contact with the travellers and learned that several people had fallen into the water. In our next call, they told us that three people had already drowned. We relayed updates about their situation and their position to the authorities immediately. At 12.55 CEST the travellers told us that a helicopter had arrived at their position and left again. At 14.20 CEST the travellers told us that there were two ships close to them, but not conducting rescue. They said that they children were dying. At 14.41 CEST there were three boats standing by. After this, we were no longer able to reach the travellers. In the evening, we received confirmation from the Moroccan rescue authorities that the Moroccan navy had picked up the travellers. They reported that two travellers had died during their journey.
Our solidarity is with the friends and families of those who lost their lives on this deadly journey as well as with the survivors who had to endure this trauma. Once again, we are sad and angry to witness how the European border regime continues to kill by denying people access to safer passages.

Tweets about the case:
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1566357193217261575?t=sdaQkoCfFk_GymU08SJ8AA&s=19
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1566359922329223171?t=l5HD5tdynbUEylWnIldUhQ&s=19

Last update: 12:39 Aug 07, 2023

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