07/02: 64 people in distress in Atlantic Ocean, returned to the place of departure TanTan in Morocco

08.02.2023 / 18:19 / Atlantic Ocean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 07th of February 2023

Case name: 2023_02_07- ATL - 010

Situation: 64 people in distress in Atlantic Ocean, returned to the place of departure TanTan in Morocco

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Atlantic Ocean

Summary of the Case:On Tuesday the 7th of February, in the early afternoon the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by the Red Cross Las Palmas via E-Mail to a group of 64 travelers, including 12 women and 7 children in distress in the Atlantic Ocean. In the E-Mail attached we found a phone number of a relative. We were able to reach them and learned some more information. The travelers had left from TanTan, Morocco at 01:00 local time two nights before (5th of February). We were not able to establish a direct contact to the travelers. We relayed all the information we had to the Spanish Search and Rescue organization Salvamento Maritimo via E-Mail. We kept on trying to reach the travelers. When we called Salavamento Maritimo they shared information about successful rescue operations with us, but there was no matching group of travelers. Only shortly after 21:00 CET the relative informed us, that they had been in contact with a traveler and that the 64 people had returned to TanTan, Morocco. Probably they had been intercepted by moroccan state authorities. We forwarded this information to Salvamento Maritimo.

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