02/06: 32 persons from Nador rescued to Spain

03.06.2016 / 18:48 / Western Mediterranean Sea

b>Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 2nd of June 2016

Case name: 2016_06_02-WM99
Situation: 32 persons from Nador rescued to Spain
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Thursday the 2nd of June 2016, at 11.15am, an Alarm Phone member alerted the shift team to a rubber boat, carrying 32 persons, including 2 women and one baby, who had left from Nador, Morocco at 3am local time. We could not reach the boat, but decided to inform the Spanish Coast Guard in Almería. They asked us to find out the exact place of departure and the colour of the boat. A contact in Morocco informed us that the boat was black and that it had left from Bouyafar. Apparently the engine of the boat had stopped working and the travellers were in panic. We passed on the information to the Spanish Coastguard. We also informed several non-governmental organizations and the UNHCR. At 1:50pm, the Spanish search and rescue organization Salvamento Maritimo and the Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras started to tweet about the case. S.M. was searching for the boat with a helicopter and a boat. At 2.15pm Caminando Fronteras tweeted that the travellers had seen the helicopter. This information was confirmed by S.M. at 2.20. They had spotted the boat at about 13 nautical miles from Melilla. Via Vesselfinder we could follow the rescue operation. At 5pm the Coastguard in Melilla confirmed to us that the travellers had safely arrived in Melilla where the Red Cross had taken over.

Last update: 19:52 Jun 13, 2016

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