26/08: Alarm Phone alerted to a boat in distress carrying 14 people

27.08.2018 / 19:01 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 26th of August 2018
Case name: 2018_08_26-WM319
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to a boat in distress carrying 14 people
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case: On Sunday the 26th of August 2018 the Alarm Phone was alerted to a boat carrying 15 people, including 2 women, which had set off from Tangier.
At 2:12pm CEST we received a call from a relative about a boat which his brother was on. He gave us the position of the boat and told us that although the boat had set off from Tangier at 1am local time, he had not had contact with his brother since 8:47am. At 2:45pm we contacted the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) and gave them the information about the case. At 2:59pm we received an email from SM stating that they had rescued a boat with the same number of people as our case. They provided us with the position of the rescue, which was very close to the position we had for our case. At 3:47pm we called SM and heard that they had rescued two boats that day, one of which had 14 people including two women on board. We gave the name of one traveller and asked for confirmation as to whether this person had been on board the recused boat. At 4:01 SM called back and confirmed that the name of the person we had given had been on the rescued boat.
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

18:03 Aug 17, 2018 / Western Mediterranean Sea Kms
16/08: 2 boats rescued to Spain
09:25 Sep 14, 2018 / Western Mediterranean Sea Kms
13/09: Two boats rescued and brought to Spain
13:42 Jan 07, 2019 / Western Mediterranean Sea Kms
06/01: 2 boats from Cap Spartel /Morocco arrived in Spain
22:47 Nov 30, 2016 / Western Mediterranean Sea, Morocco Kms
2 Boats intercepted by the Moroccan Navy