16/09: 12 people in distress in the western Med, brought back to Morocco by the Moroccan navy

17.09.2018 / 09:30 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 16th of September 2018
Case name: 2018_09_16-WM332
Situation: 12 people in distress in the Strait of Gibraltar, intercepted by the Moroccan navy.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Sunday the 16th of September, at 1.19pm CEST a contact person alerted the Alarm Phone shift team to a boat with 12 people, including one woman, which had left from a beach close to Tangier at 1am local time. The contact person forwarded us the phone number and position of the boat. At 1.36pm we called the Spanish search and rescue organization Salvamento Maritimo (SM) and passed on the information we had. At 2.30pm we also called the Moroccan rescue authorities and alerted them to the boat. After this, neither we nor the contact person were able to reach the travellers anymore. We tried to clarify with both Spanish and Moroccan authorities whether they had rescued the boat, but it was not possible to get a clear confirmation. Only the next day at 12.21pm did we receive the news from the contact person that the boat had been intercepted and brought back to Morocco.

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