Three vessels in distress, all rescued by Turkey

16.08.2015 / 15:43 / Aegean Sea, Turkey

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations - 15th of August 2015

Case name: 2015_08_15-AEG43
Situation: Three vessels in Turkish waters, all rescued
Status of WTM Investigations: Concluded
Place of Incidents: Aegean Sea, Turkey

Summary of the case: On Saturday the 15th of August, the Alarm Phone was alerted to three emergency cases in the Aegean Sea. At about 11am, Nawal Soufi’s activist collective passed on a number and the GPS position of a vessel in distress. They were still in Turkish waters and the Turkish coastguards in Ankara said that they would look into the situation. Already shortly afterwards, at about 11.51am, they confirmed the rescue of the vessel.

At approximately 1.32pm, we were contacted by a German woman who went to Turkey as a tourist. At the beach Yesil Liman she observed that about 2 hours earlier a vessel was rescued by the Turkish coastguards but also that, shortly before the rescue, four travellers had jumped into the water. She said that they were swimming ever since toward the island of Lesvos/Greece. She had already informed the Turkish coastguards but nobody had come. We reached out to the Greek coastguards on Lesvos and they said that they would send a vessel to the location. At 2pm we informed our contact person who said that she could not see the four anymore. We then passed on the phone number of the Greek coastguards to our contact person who, at about 2.55pm called again, saying that she had been informed about strong currents in the area. At 3.30pm the Greek coastguards said that they were informed about the case and that they could see that the four travellers were swimming back toward Turkey. At 4.55 our contact person reported that the Turkish coastguards confirmed the rescue of the travellers. Shortly afterwards, the Turkish authorities confirmed their rescue also to us.

At about 9.07pm, we received a call from someone stating that she knew of a vessel carrying about 40 people, including many children, near Izmir that was on the verge of capsizing. Shortly afterwards we received a phone number as well as GPS coordinates of the vessel. Our contact person said that the Turkish coastguards were not responding to her calls. We were also unable to reach different Turkish authorities until about 9.55pm when the Turkish coastguards confirmed that the vessel had been rescued. We passed this information on to our contact person.
Last update: 15:49 Aug 18, 2015
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