15/01: Alarm Phone alerted to three boats in the Western Med, all rescued to Spain.

16.01.2019 / 11:14 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 15th of January 2019
Case name: 2019_01_15-WM367
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to three groups of travellers, in the end they were all rescued by SM and brought to Spain
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Tuesday the 15th of January, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to three boats in the Western Med. One boat had left from Tangier, one from Nador, and one came all the way from Algeria. In the end we were able to obtain confirmation that all three boats had been rescued by the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) and were brought to Spain.
At 7.15am CET our shift team received a call from a contact person, alerting us to a boat with 12 men, forwarding us their phone number and position. The travellers were in urgent distress in the Strait of Gibraltar, as their inflatable boat was losing air. At 7.48 we called SM and passed on all the information we had. In the meantime, we were not able to establish a direct connection to the travellers. At 8.33 we alerted the public to the situation in a tweet. An hour later we managed to reach the travellers, who confirmed to us that they had been rescued.
At 1.10pm CET we received information via a contact person about a group of travellers who had left from Nador at 5am. They were 38 people, including three children and seven women, and their engine had stopped working. We were not able to reach the travellers, but at 1.35pm we called SM and forwarded the information we had. Half an hour later we received a position via the contact person, which we immediately forwarded to SM, who told us that they thought they had managed to locate the boat and were heading that direction. At 4.18pm we got a confirmation from the contact person that the travellers had been rescued by SM and were being brought to Spain.

At 3.03pm CET a contact person called us and told us about a boat with 12-14 men, who had left from Algeria at 1am and were now close to Spain. The travellers could see the Spanish coast but could no longer move as they had run out of fuel. Due to high waves they were in urgent distress. At 4.15pm we called SM and passed on the information we had. Online, we could see that they were searching the area with rescue vessels. Despite continuously trying to reach the travellers, we did not manage to establish a direct connection. At 5.43pm we received a confirmation from the contact person that the travellers had been rescued by SM.
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

Related Reports

06:11 Nov 02, 2020 / Western Mediterranean Sea Kms
01/11: 13 travellers from Nador rescued to Almeria
15:53 Jul 25, 2022 / Western Mediterranean Kms
24/07: Three travellers arrived to mainland Spain by themselves
09:25 Oct 06, 2019 / Western Mediterranean Kms
05/10: 63 people left Nador, rescued by Salvamento Marítimo to Motril
13:11 Jul 16, 2023 / Western Mediterranean Sea Kms
15/07: 6 travellers arrived to Spain by themselves
08:20 Aug 31, 2022 / Western Mediterranean Kms
30/08: 8 travellers rescued in the Alboran Sea.