03/06 Boat in distress in the Western Med with 4 people on board, returned to Morocco

04.06.2018 / 19:33 / Western Mediterranean, Morocco/Spain

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 3rd of June 2018

Case name: 2018_06_03-WM248
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 Sunday, the 3rd of June 2018, at 7.18am, our Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to a distress case by a relative of someone who had taken to the sea. The boat had started in the night from Morocco, close to Cap Spartel. We reached the travellers directly at 7.25am and they told us that there were 4 people on board.

At 7.45am, we spoke to the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) and they confirmed that they had received information about this boat. We informed the boat-people that SM had been informed at 7.55am. At 8.25am, the boat-people seemed more anxious and they asked us to inform the Moroccan authorities, which we did at 8.30am. At 8.35am, the boat-people told us that their situation was very urgent. At 9.24am, the boat-people informed us that they could see a container vessel nearby and earlier a navy vessel had passed by them. They said that they would die if rescue did not come soon. We ask them again to send their GPS coordinates, which they managed to do at 9.43am. We passed their location on to SM five minutes later.

At 10am, the boat-people could see a helicopter and half an hour later they could see a fishing-boat. At 10.39am, MRCC Rabat confirmed that they were still searching for them. Over the next hours, we spoke regularly to the boat-people and updated the authorities on their situation which was deteriorating, with one person in critical condition. Still at 1.52pm, SM was not able to locate the boat although they had been searching. At 2.22pm MRCC Rabat sent us an email, confirming that they had rescued the people.
Credibility: UP DOWN 0
Layers »
  • 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

Related Reports

18:49 May 31, 2018 / Western Mediterranean, Morocco/Spain Kms
30/05 Boat carrying 5 people from Morocco, rescued to Spain
12:00 Apr 27, 2018 / Western Mediterranean Sea Kms
26/04: 10 travellers rescued to Tarifa
18:26 Oct 18, 2020 / Western Mediterranean Kms
17/10: 12 people pulled back to Morocco by the Marine Royale