02/12: Around 40 people rescued from Alboran Island

03.12.2023 / 16:53 / Western Mediterranean

b>Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 2th of December 2023
Case name: 2023_12_02-WM079
Situation: Around 40 people rescued from Alboran Island to Spanish mainland
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case: In the late evening of the 2nd of December the Alarmphone shift team was alerted by a relative to a group of 40 people who have departed from around Nador in the direction of Spain early in the morning of the previous day. According to the relative the group has been close to Alboran Island. Unfortunately the Alarmphone shift team didn’t manage to establish direct contact with the people and therefore didn’t receive an exact GPS position. In the evening of the next day we learned from the relative that the people have stranded on the Alboran island, a Spanish military island. We tried to call several Spanish authorities to pressure them to take the 40 people to Spanish mainland. On the 4th of December the alarmphone shift team was relieved to learn from the relative that the group has been brought to the harbour of Almeria.

Tweet can be found here: https://www.twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1731370551959052628

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