17 people in distress off the Turkish coast, all rescued

21.04.2015 / 18:43 / Near Cesme, Turkey

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigation – 20th of April 2015

Case name: 2015_04_20-AEG9
Situation: Approximately 17 people in distress between the Turkish coast and Chios Island/Gr, all rescued
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Near Cesme, Turkey

Summary of the Case: On Monday the 20th of April 2015, in the late evening, activist Nawal Soufi informed the Alarm Phone shift team that more than 20 Syrians had left Turkey on a vessel and were on their way to the island of Chios. Nawal passed on a phone number as well as the position of the vessel. The shift team reached out to the passengers via WhatsApp and received the information that there were about 19 people, including 3 children and 2 women on a small vessel. The engine had stopped running and water was slowly entering the vessel. The person on the vessel asked for help and stated that the shift team should hurry.

The shift team then called the Greek coastguards in Piraeus and passed on the information. However, they became very dismissive when they learned that the vessel was still in Turkish territory. In the meantime, the contact to the passengers had broken down. The shift team wrote emails to the Greek coastguards and the UNHCR in Turkey and Greece.

In the night to the 24th of April, the Greek coastguard called our shift team, informing them that they had notified the Turkish coastguards. In phone conversations between the Turkish coastguards and our shift team, they confirmed that a vessel in the area with 17 people on board had been rescued.

Later, contact to one of the passengers could be re-established through WhatsApp. He thanked the shift team, and confirmed that they had been rescued and were back in Turkey. The Turkish coastguards later confirmed the rescue operation (see source 1).
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

13:59 Dec 09, 2013 / Cesme (Tr) - Chios (Gr) Kms
Wreck - 3 found dead, at least 7 missing, 32 to 39 survived
20:01 Mar 09, 2022 / Eastern Med Kms
08/03: 20 people returned to Turkey
18:57 Dec 09, 2019 / Aegean sea Kms
08/12: One boat intercepted by Turkish Coastguard.
10:20 Oct 03, 2019 / Aegean Sea Kms
02/10: 6 people near Chios, brought back to Turkey