19/01: 11 travellers in distress on their way from Tangier, rescued and brought to Spain.

20.01.2019 / 11:19 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 19th of January 2019
Case name: 2019_01_19-WM368
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 11 people in distress in the Western Med. The travellers were rescued by SM and brought to Algeciras.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Saturday the 19th of January at 9.25am, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a contact person to a boat with 11 travellers, including two women, in the Western Med. The contact person forwarded us the phone number and position of the travellers and informed us that they had left from Tangier at 3.30am. We managed to reach the travellers, but due to bad connection, communication was very difficult. At 9.35am we called the Spanish search and rescue organisation Salvamento Maritimo (SM) and passed on the information we had. Half an hour later we spoke to SM again, and they confirmed that they were looking for the travellers with boats and a helicopter, which had just spotted a rubber boat in distress. In another call to the travellers they confirmed to us that they saw the helicopter, and at 10.43am the travellers confirmed that they had been rescued and were being taken to Algeciras.
Last update: 11:59 Feb 01, 2019
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

15:32 Sep 01, 2015 / Western Mediterranean Sea Kms
2 Vessels in distress in the Western Med, rescued to Spain‬
13:32 Jun 25, 2017 / Western Mediterranean Kms
24/06: Travellers intercepted by the Moroccan Navy
14:18 Jun 28, 2018 / Western Mediterranean, Morocco/Spain Kms
27/06 Two boats in distress in the Western Med, both intercepted and returned to Morocco