15/12: 19 people arrived to Motril

16.12.2020 / 09:44 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – December 15th 2020
Case name: 2020_12_15-WM538
Situation: 19 people arrived to Motril
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary
In the evening of December 15th Alarm Phone was alerted to a distress case of 19 people who had left close to Al Hoceima by a relative of people on the boat. The relative had lost contact to the boat at 19.50 local time and were very worried. The relative passed on two numbers of people on the boat. We informed authorities about the case at 20.10 CET. We managed to establish contact to the people on the boat at 20.20 CET, who informed us they had no internet access and were unable to access a GPS position but were able to call from time to time. We forwarded this information to authorities.

At 22.25 CET we managed to establish contact to the boat again but the connection was extremely bad and we could not understand clearly. People on the boat attempted to relate a GPS position to us, but we were unable to understand any meaningful sequence. We tried to reach the boat throughout the night, but did not manage to.

At 08.10 CET December 16th the people on the boat travelors called us and informed us that all 19 people had arrived to Motril safely.

Last update: 18:33 Apr 26, 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