06/06: 4 travellers in distress return to Morocco by own forces

07.06.2018 / 00:09 / Western Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 06th of June 2018

Case name: 2018_06_06-WM252
Situation: 4 travellers in distress return to Morocco by own forces
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Western Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On Wednesday, 6th of June, at 11:58am CEST, we were alerted to a boat in distress from Cap Spartel/Morocco to Tarifa/Spain, carrying 4 people.They had left from Moroccan shore at 2am local time in a rowing boat. At 12:05am we reached the boat. It was losing air and water was entering the boat.They had already contacted the Spanish rescue authority Salvamento Marítimo themselves. At 12:39am we called Salvamento Marítimo and passed our information. They stated that the position would be in Moroccan waters and that the Moroccan Marine Royale had been informed. At 1:00pm we managed to receive a GPS position of the boat. At 1:10pm we passed the position to MRCC Rabat that informed us that a police patrol would already search the area. We sent an email to the respective authorities in both Spain and Morocco to document the alert. Afterwards, we couldn’t establish a connection to the boat anymore. At 2:40pm we called MRCC Rabat again that informed us that they had not found the boat. At 3:36pm we called Salvamento Marítimo in Tarifa, but they didn’t have news either and forwarded us to SM Madrid. SM Madrid told us that they wouldn’t launch a rescue operation in Moroccan waters. Afterwards, we called several times the Moroccan authorities and tried continuously to reach the boat. At 7:15pm we received the information that the boat had returned to Moroccan shore on its own.

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