09/11: 2 people got lost in Greece and were intercepted to Turkey

10.11.2019 / 10:47 / Aegean region, Evros region

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 9th of November 2019

Case name: 2019_09_11-AEG616
Situation: Elderly women and children got lost in Evros region, Greece and were returned to Edirne, Turkey
Status of WTM Investigation: investigation ongoing
Place of Incident: Aegean region, Evros region

Summary of the Case:
On 9 November our shiftteam was contacted at 13:46h CET for an elderly woman with a boy which both had lost the group they were travelling with. The Alarm Phone talked to the woman at 14:20h and gathered information about the situation: They were near a mosque in the village of Mega Dereio in the Evros region in Greece, already 32 km from the turkish-greek border and they had stayed there since two days. They alerted the Greek police and were informed that they will be picked up later in the evening. At 16:40h various authorities plus NGOs in Greece were informed by Alarm Phone. Unfortunately our shift team lost contact to the travellers. During the evening the shift team reached out to various authorities in the region to find out what happened to the two people. When the Regional Centre for Integrated Border Management and Immigration were called the Alarm Phone learned that obviously no police were informed yet. The centre adviced to call the police in Orestiada which was done at 22:13h. The officers told to the Alarm Phone that they will handle the case now, but stated at 00:39h that they didn't found the travellers at the village. The next day at 14:11h CET our team learned that the woman and the child were back in Greece. We are still investigating how this push-back took place.
Last update: 15:05 Oct 23, 2020
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

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