01/11: Ten travelers left from Tanger Med, Morocco; interception by Moroccan Navy.

02.11.2020 / 13:33 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 1st of November 2020

Case name: 2020_11_01-WM516
Situation: Ten travelers (all men, one minor) left from Tanger Med, Morocco. Interception by Moroccan Navy.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:
On 1st of November 2020 at 09:49h CET, the Alarm Phone was informed about a boat in distress. There were ten men (one minor) who had left at night from Tanger Med, Morocco towards Tarifa, Spain. We received a phone number on board, but no GPS data. The last contact to the travelers had been at 09:15h. Our shift team could not reach the travellers. On 10:46h, we informed the Spanish Search and Rescue organization Salvamento Maritímo (SM) about the case. At 10:49h, we called SM Tarifa/Cadiz and learned about three recent rescues. The officer we were talking to assumed that our case could have been intercepted by the Moroccan Navy around 10:00h. At the same time, we received the same information from the person who had alerted the Alarm Phone in the first place. They had received the confirmation of the interception from the travelers themselves. At 10:50h, we informed SM Tarifa about this and closed the case.

Last update: 09:23 Feb 15, 2021

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