07/10: Two boats intercepted by Moroccan Marine Royale

08.10.2017 / 17:08 / Western Mediterranean Sea

 Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 7th of October 2017
Case name: 2017_10_07-WM165
Situation: Two boats with 45 and 33 travellers intercepted by Moroccan Marine Royale
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:   On Saturday, 7th of October 2017, at 9:59am, a contact person informed us about a boat that had left around Asilah, Morocco at 5am towards Barbate, Spain carrying 45 people. Their phone was not reachable and we couldn't establish a connection. At 2:07pm, we called Salvamento Maritimo and informed them about the boat. They said they already knew about the case. At 3:04pm, a contact person told us that the boat had been intercepted by the Moroccan Marine Royale. 
At 12:15, a contact person alerted us to a second boat with 33 travellers that had also left from Asilah at 5am. We couldn't establish a connection. We informed Salvamento Maritimo at 2:07pm about the boat. At 7:55pm we received the information from the contact person that the second boat had also been intercepted by Moroccan Marine Royale.

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