Frontex plane searches for missing migrants from a patera between Formentera and Cabrera

A Frontex plane carries out this Friday search flights in the maritime area between Formentera and Cabrera to try to locate the migrants who would have jumped into the sea from a skiff found on Wednesday with five people on board. The device is activated after the survivors assured that the boat had 23 occupants and that they had been adrift for nine days.

According to sources of Salvamento Maritimo, the aircraft will also extend today the search towards the south of the archipelago, within the area of responsibility of rescue(SAR) Spanish, which extends up to 80 nautical miles. This area had already been inspected in previous days without results.

• Alarm grows in Ibiza over three missing pateras between Algeria and Balearic Islands

The operation began on November 13, when relatives of one of the occupants received a distress message sent from the skiff, indicating that they were about 50 miles southeast of the Pitiusas. A Frontex plane went to the coordinates provided, but when it did not locate the boat it began a wider aerial search to the south of Formentera.

• 18 migrants disappear from skiff after days adrift

At the same time, the vessel Guardamar Concepción Arenal, docked in Ibiza, sailed towards the indicated position, although the search was equally unsuccessful. Subsequently, the Helimer helicopter, based in Palma, was activated and flew over the southern area of Cabrera without locating any trace of the skiff.

During the following days a notice to navigators was issued and additional support was requested from Frontex air assets that have been operating regularly in the area since February. Finally, on November 19, the boat was located with five survivors, who assured that the skiff left with 23 people on board and that several of them had jumped into the sea during the days they were adrift.

The maritime conditions of the last few days, marked by the effects of storm Claudia, complicated the search efforts, with poor visibility at sea and waves that made it difficult to detect small boats. The operation is still active to try to locate the missing migrants.

Continue reading:

• More boats and less resources: Rescue, at the limit in Ibiza and Formentera

• A “pateras-taxi” network that charged for carrying migrants from Algeria is busted in Ibiza

• While Ibiza and Formentera are saturated with pateras, another area of Spain celebrates a sharp drop in migratory flows

• Intercepted 13 migrants arriving in a patera in the area of Es Cubells, Ibiza

• Spain alerts and Algeria rescues a drifting patera that had been adrift for days