3 groups in distress in the Aegean Sea, rescue and safe arrival of all confirmed

27.08.2015 / 11:23 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 26th August 2015

Case name: 2015_08_26-AEG52
Situation: 3 groups in distress in the Aegean Sea, rescue and safe arrival of all confirmed
Status of WTM Investigations: Concluded
Place of Incidents: Aegean Sea

Summary of the case: On Wednesday the 26th of August 2015, at approximately 3.30am, the Alarm Phone was contacted by someone who knew of a vessel between Turkey and Samos, carrying about 50 people. He said that the vessel was still moving but the phone number of one of the travellers could not be reached anymore. We contacted the Greek coastguards and informed them about the case. Already at 5am, the Greek coastguards confirmed that they had rescued the whole group.

At 9.02pm, Nawal Soufi’s activist collective informed us about an emergency situation in the Aegean Sea. Details on the situation were limited but it seemed to be an urgent distress situation. They travellers themselves could not be reached. We turned to the Greek coastguards who noted down the phone number of the travellers but were overall very uncooperative. At 9.38pm we informed the coastguards on Lesvos who asked us to tell the group to directly call the international emergency number 112 through which it would be possible to locate the vessel. We passed these information on to the group via text message. At 11.10pm we were informed by the activist collective that the group had reached land independently and were safe.

At 11.11pm, the collective informed us about another distress case. Again information were limited and the group of travellers could not be reached. At 11.30pm we briefly reached them but communications were interrupted. All we could hear was ‘help, help’. Shortly afterwards they were able to send us their GPS position (see map) and told us that they were twenty adults and six children. They were clearly in Greek territorial waters, near the island of Kos. The Greek coastguards on Rhodes forwarded us to the Kos Port Authority which noted down the contact details of the travellers. At 00:50am, the activist collective informed us that they had reached land independently. The Kos Port Authority had learned about their arrival from the group themselves. They also confirmed their arrival to us later on via WhatsApp.
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