02/05: Shipwreck of boat with 28 travelers in the Atlantic

03.05.2023 / 17:17 / Atlantic Ocean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 2nd May 2023

Case name: 2023_05_02-ATL024

Situation: Shipwreck off the coast of Mohammedia, two bodies washed up, 26 travelers remain missing.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Atlantic Ocean

Summary of the case: On Tuesday the 2nd of May 2023, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of 28 travelers in distress in the Western Mediterranean Sea. The travelers had left from Skhirat on the 28th of April, and the relative had not had contact to them since their departure. We were not able to reach the travelers, but alerted the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo, relaying all the information we had. We learned that two bodies had washed up on the beach of Benslimane of an adult and a five year old child who according to relatives were in the boat we had been alerted to. Both Salvamento Maritimo and the Moroccan search and rescue authorities told us that they had not rescued a group of travelers corresponding to the description we gave. From local fishermen we learned that there had been a shipwreck in the area. We were not able to find out if there were any survivors of the shipwreck. Thus 26 of the travelers remain missing. We are angry and saddened again to witness the human consequences of EUrope’s closed borders policy. Our thoughts and solidarity are with the relatives and friends of those who have lost their lives on this deadly journey.
Tweets about the case: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1653796809058263045

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