18/08: 2 boats (1 returned on its own, 1 remains without info)

19.08.2018 / 18:06 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 18th of August 2018
Case name: 2018_08_18-WM314
Situation: 2 boats (1 returned on its own, 1 remains without info)
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On August 18th, the Alarm Phone was alerted to two cases of travelers in the Western Mediterranean Sea. One of these returned on its own to Morocco, and about the other the Alarm Phone still has no news.

At 6.03am CEST, the Alarm Phone shift team received news of a boat with 9 people that had left Morocco approximately 3 hours earlier. According to the news received by the shift team, the travelers were in danger, but the shift team was not immediately able to contact the boat. However, because of the news that the boat was in danger, the shift team decided to contact Salvamento Maritimo to alert them about the boat. After several hours, neither the shift team nor Salvamento Maritimo was able to reach the boat, and so the shift team called MRCC in Rabat to ask if there was info. The Alarm Phone tried to reach the boat and receive information until 23.30pm, but there was still no news.

In the second case, the Alarm Phone was alerted at 16.55pm about a boat that left Morocco at 3am CEST. The Alarm Phone then lost contact with the boat for several hours, until the shift team received news that the boat had traveled back to Morocco on its own.

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