20/11: 1 boat gone missing near the Spanish coast

21.11.2023 / 15:16 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 20th of November 2023
Case name: 2023_11_20-WM076
Situation: The boat with around 16 people on board has been missing since it left Cherchell, Algeria, on the 15th of November.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case: On the 20th of November, Alarmphone got informed by a relative about a boat that left Cherchell, Algeria, on the 15th of November and had been missing since. Alarmphone did not manage to get in touch with the people on the boat and could not therefore gain further information. Some hours after attempting to find more information, another boat that had taken a similar route to Spain informed Alarmphone, that they had seen the boat with 16 people not far from the Spanish coasts near Alicante, but had then lost sight of it. The exact position and time of this encounter remained unclear. Alarmphone informed the relevant authorities in Spain about the missing boat and tried to find out what had happened to these 16 people. The authorities claimed to not know more about it and passed Alarmphone on to the Red Cross. It is unclear whether the boat with the 16 people ever arrived or not.

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