21/09: 30 travelers in distress at the Atlantic Ocean, rescued by the Moroccan navy

22.09.2022 / 11:25 / Atlantic

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 21th of September 2022

Case name: 2022_09_21-ATL110

Situation: 30 travelers in distress at the Atlantic Ocean, rescued by the Moroccan navy

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Atlantic Ocean

Summary of the Case: On Wednesday the 21th of September 2022, in the late evening the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of 20 to 35 travelers in distress in the Atlantic Ocean, near the Moroccan coast. The travelers had left from Kenitra, Morocco that same morning at 05:00 (CEST). The relative forwarded us a GPS-position she received from the boat. We were not able to establish a direct contact to the people on boat. We relayed all the information we had to the Moroccan Navy via phone call and via E-Mail. The Moroccan Navy told us that they would send a patrol vessel o search for the boat and inform us in about two hours. After midnight we were alerted by another relative to the same travelers. The relatives were not able to reach them anymore. The last time they had reached them the engine was broken and water entering the boat. At 01:10 CEST (22nd of September) the Moroccan Navy called us back and relayed the information that they had found the boat and are launching a rescue operation now. They were not able to tell us an exact number of people nor if everybody was safe. The next morning at 07:50 CEST they confirmed a successful rescue operation. We forwarded the information to the relatives.

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