03/06: 35 travellers intercepted in the Alboran Sea

04.06.2023 / 14:23 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 3rd of June 2023

Case name: 2023_06_03-WM039

Situation: 35 travellers in distress in the Alboran Sea, picked up by the Moroccan navy.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the case: On Saturday the 3rd of June 2023, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of 35 travellers, including seven women and two children, in distress in the Alboran Sea. The travellers had left from Nador on a rubber boat. We managed to reach the travellers and got their GPS position. We immediately relayed all the information we had to the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo as well as the Moroccan rescue authorities. In the late evening, Salvamento Maritimo told us that they had search for the boat with an aircraft without success, and that the Moroccan navy had not carried out any interceptions either. During the night we lost contact to the travellers. The following day we stayed in close contact with relatives but were not able to obtain any news from authorities. However, shortly after midnight we managed to reach the travellers again and received their updated position. They told us that they were out of fuel and therefore left adrift. According to the Moroccan rescue authorities, the navy went to the position provided but did not find the boat in distress. Only in the evening did the Moroccan rescue authorities confirm that the Royal Navy found the boat and returned the travellers back to Morocco. Soon after, one of the travellers confirmed to us that they had been returned to Morocco.

Tweets about this case: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1665718484519534595

Last update: 14:28 Jan 15, 2024

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