19/07: 34 people started from Dakhla and arrived on Canary Islands

20.07.2020 / 19:41 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 19th of July 2020

Case name: 2020_07_19-WM469
Situation: 34 people travelling through rough sea rescued to Canary Islands
Status of WTM Investigation:
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:

On 19th of July at 9 pm CEST we got informed about a boat with 34 people on board, amongst them 10 women and 11 children. They left from Dakhla, Morocco, at 3 am CEST on 18th of July. We tried to call the people but their phones were not reachable at this this time as well as in the following days. At 10:20 pm we called Salvamento Maritimo (SM) on the Canary Islands who was already informed. The man on the phone stated they would search by daylight, also for other boats that had left Morocco towards the Canary Islands. On 21st of July we reguarly called SM to gather information. Weather conditions were bad. At 10 pm SM told us about an ongoing rescue operation. Within the next days we tried hard to figure out the details of this and another rescue and to distinguish between the different boats. On 23rd of July we finally got confirmation by a relative of a traveller that they were safe on the Canaries.

Last update: 20:19 Oct 06, 2020

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