20/08: 21 travelers stuck at the land border Serbia/Bosnia

21.08.2019 / 17:04 / Land border Serbia/Bosnia

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 20th of August 2019
Case name: 2019_08_20-AEG559
Situation: 21 travelers stuck at the land border Serbia/Bosnia near Banja Koviljača, found by the Serbian police, 1 person drowned in the river
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Land border Serbia/ Bosnia and Herzegovina

Summary of the Case:

On Tuesday, 20th of August at 11:26am CEST the Alarm Phone was informed about a group of 21 travelers who were trying to cross the border between Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, close to Banja Koviljača and needed help. At 11:34am we learned that one person had drowned in the river Drina one hour ago. We advised them to call the emergency numbers in Serbia and Bosnia. At 11:43am the travelers informed us that the police had found them and talked to them, but they could not understand each other. One hour later we talked to them again, while they were still with the police who had told them they could not do more to find the body of the drowned person due to rising water.

Last update: 09:00 Sep 05, 2019

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