12/08: 53 travellers in distress in the Alboran, returned to Morocco

13.08.2018 / 17:51 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 12th of August 2018
Case name: 2018_08_12-WM308
Situation: 53 travellers on their way from Al Hoceima for 1½ day, returned to Morocco.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Sunday the 12th of August, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a contact person to a boat with 53 people, including 12 women and two babies. The travellers had left at 1am local time the previous day from around Al Hoceima, and the contact person was worried about them, as they had been at sea for 24 hours. At 1am CEST we called SM, who had no information about the boat, and we therefore immediately sent an email to both SM and UNHCR about the boat. The contact person managed to reach the travellers again and informed us that they were panicking. At 3.20am we managed to reach the travellers. They were not able to give us a position, as they did not have internet connection, and they could also not see other vessels or land as indicator of their whereabouts. We passed on this information to SM, who confirmed that they would commence a search and rescue operation with an aircraft in the morning. At 6.05am SM confirmed that their aircraft was taking off. We stayed in close contact with the travellers, who were getting more and more desperate and exhausted. At 6.03am the travellers told us that they could see a helicopter, which we immediately informed SM about. At 10.03am we spoke to SM again. They informed us that they were still searching with the aircraft, but that visibility was limited. 1½ later we spoke to SM again. They had localized the travellers, but refused to carry out the rescue operation, and had instead alerted the Moroccan rescue authorities and Frontex to the distress case. At 3.16pm we spoke to SM, who informed us that the travellers had been rescued by the Moroccan navy, which was later confirmed by the contact person.
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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