16/11: 11 people rescued by Salvamento Marítimo in the Alboran sea

17.11.2023 / 15:08 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 16th of November 2023
Case name: 2023_11_16-WM074
Situation: 11 people rescued by Salvamento Marítimo in the Alboran sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case: In the late evening of Thursday, 16th of November the Alarmphone was alerted by a relative to a group of 11 people – from which some of them were minors – who were travelling in the Alboran Sea. They have started on the 13th of November near Mostaganem, Algeria and were on the way to Spain. Their boat was reported to be white on the outside and blue on the inside. On the 17th of November in the afternoon we learned from SM Cartagena that there has been a rescue that could match this boat according to the number of people on the boat and the place of departure. Only on the 19th of November could we confirm that the boat we were looking for had been the one rescued by the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Marítimo as the relatives had found a video of the people in the hospital. We hope that the people who needed medical care will recover very fast.

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