03/03: 40 to 50 people left behind on the Alboran Island

04.03.2024 / 11:29 / Western Mediterranean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 03 of March 2024
Case name: 2024_03_03-WM005
Situation: A group of 40 to 50 travellers was left behind on the Alboran Island and it is still unclear, what has happened to the group.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean

Summary of the Case: On the 3rd of March 2024, a relative informed the Alarm Phone shift team, that three or four rubber boats with more than 190 travellers, that had left from Nador, Marocco, have arrived on the Alboran Island on the 25th of February. Around 140 of them have been rescued by the Spanish search and rescue organization Salvamento Maritimo, but 40 to 50 people were still on the island when the relative informed alarmphone. The shift team called Salvamento Maritimo to get information on the group left behind on the island. Different officers shared different information, one denying that they knew about the group, another stating that Salvamento Maritimo knew about the group but did not plan on doing something in this moment, as the Alboran Island was under military influence and thus, Salvamento Maritimo could not rescue without military approval. Another call, this time to Guardia Civil, also brought the shift team no information but again contradictory statements. According to media reports, one of the people left behind was picked up by helicopter in the meantime and died shortly afterwards in the hospital (https://elpais.com/espana/2024-03-02/fallece-en-el-hospital-un-migrante-que-fue-evacuado-en-helicoptero-desde-alboran.html). In the meantime, it was very unclear where the missing people were, as the authorities did not release any information and different information circulated over the next few days. It is still unclear to the Alarm Phone what has happened to the group left behind on Alboran Island - we sincerely hope that they have been rescued and that their families will receive clarity – and we condemn this leaving behind people in the strongest possible terms.

Tweets about this case: https://x.com/alarm_phone/status/1764566615289368595?s=20
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

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