19/11: 44 people rescued in the Atlantic Ocean

20.11.2023 / 15:10 / Atlantic Ocean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 19th November 2023
Case name: 2023_11_19-ATL074
Situation: 1 boat with 44 people on board was rescued after three days in the Atlantic Ocean
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Atlantic Ocean

Summary of the Case: On the 19th of November, relatives informed Alarmphone about a rubber boat with 44 people on board that left Tan Tan, Morocco, on the 17th of November. Alarmphone managed to call the people on the boat, got their position and the information that the group was lacking fuel. Alarmphone alerted the Spanish Search and Rescue organization Salvamento Maritimo. Contact to the people on the boat was lost for a few hours and it was not until the morning of November 20th that Alarmphone again received a position from the people on the boat. In the morning of Novermber 20th, Salvamento Maritimo appeared to be sending a boat in the direction of the latest position, but the situation was unclear and relatives kept contacting alarmphone, concerned about the situation of their loved ones. After several hours of uncertainty, relatives contacted the Alarmphone with the news that the 44 people on the boat had all been rescued.

Tweets about this case: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1726206649541779740

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