01/11: 25 travelers in distress, left from Tazaghine, Morocco; rescued to Motril, Spain.

02.11.2020 / 13:40 / Western Mediterranean Sea

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

Case name: 2020_11_01-WM517
Situation: Approx. 25 travelers in distress, left from Tazaghine, Morocco and rescued by the Spanish Search and Rescue organization Salvamento Marítimo and brought to Motril, Spain.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:
On 1st of November 2020 at 19:45h CET, the Alarm Phone was called by the family of somebody on a boat that had left from Tazaghine, Morocco with a group of 23 travelers. They had left the beach between 03:00h and 05:00h in the morning. We received two phone numbers on board. At 20:00h, we called the numbers, but could not reach the travelers. At 20:05h, the family informed us that the travelers had been rescued by the Spanish Search and Rescue organization Salvamento Marítimo(SM) and were brought to Motril, Spain. At 20:26h, we called SM Almería, and they confirmed the rescue of a group of 25 people. The travelers’ phone was still turned off. At 20:53h, the family confirmed that this was the group they had informed us about.

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