19 people dead/missing near Farmakonisi/Greece

10.07.2015 / 19:51 / Farmakonisi, Greece

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations - 11th of July 2015

Case name: 2015_07_07-AEG20
Situation: Alarm Phone contacted about a shipwreck in the Aegean Sea, with 19 people missing
Status of WTM Investigations: Ongoing
Place of Incidents: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: In the evening of Thursday the 9th of July 2015, the Alarm Phone received a message by someone whose Syrian friend’s family members were on board of a vessel that had capsized on Tuesday the 7th of July, near the Greek islands of Farmakonisi and Agathonisi (see source 1). 19 people are feared dead and 21 were rescued by Greek and Turkish coastguard. Our contact person asked for support to find out whether his friend’s family members were amongst the missing or drowned. He asked for further contacts. Later on, Pro Asyl confirmed that their Greek colleagues had begun to establish contact to different authorities on Greek islands and in Turkey in order to find out more about the survivors and the victims of the shipwreck. They also promised to stay in contact with the Syrian man and inform him if they find out more about his missing family members.

Sources

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/07/18-feared-dead-people-smugglers-boat-capsizes-greek-islands

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