17/12: 13 people missing in the Western Mediterranean Sea

18.12.2023 / 17:06 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 17th of December 2023
Case name: 2023_12_17WM083
Situation: 13 people missing in the Western Mediterranean Sea, pressumably another invisible shipwreck
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case: In the evening of 17th of December, the Alarmphone was alerted by a relative to a group of 13 people. The travellers had started from Sidi Lakhdar near Mostaganem, Algeria, on the 10th of December. They were reported to be travelling in a blue and white colored zodiac. There were very bad weather conditions on the day the boat had left. As soon as the relative had contacted us, we immediately relayed all the information to the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Marítimo. Sadly the Alarmphone shift team didn’t manage to establish direct contact with the travellers and also the relatives didn’t receive any news from them anymore. The boat is likely to be another invisible shipwreck. Our thoughts are with the friends and relatives of the missing people. For freedom of movement for all, as it is the only way to prevent any further deaths in the Mediterranean Sea!

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