25/11 Alarm Phone alerted to boat carrying 34 people from Morocco, rescued to Spain

26.11.2017 / 18:27 / Spain, Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 25th of November 2017

Case name: 2017_11_25-WM188
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to emergency situation in the Western Med
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Saturday, the 25th of November 2017, our Alarm Phone shift team received a message from a contact person at 4.08pm about a boat in distress in the Western Mediterranean Sea, carrying 34 people, including 2 women. They had left from Nador at 6am in the morning (local time Morocco) and wanted to reach Almeria/Spain. The people on board were unable to pass on their GPS position. After trying to reach the travellers directly several times, without success, our shift team contacted Salvamento Maritimo, the Spanish search and rescue organisation, and passed on the received information. About an hour later, we received further details about the size and colour of the boat, which we passed on to Salvamento Maritimo. They told us at 5.15pm that they had already sent out a boat as well as a helicopter to search for them. At 7.16pm as well as at 9.20pm, they informed us that they were still searching. The helicopter had to return to Almeria to tank fuel but would leave again shortly after. At 1.30am, Salvamento Maritimo stated that all people had been found and rescued. They were on their way to a Spanish harbour. At 2.18am, also our initial contact person confirmed that the group had safely arrived.

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