Two cases in the Aegean Sea, near Lesvos and Agathonisi

17.10.2015 / 14:31 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 16th of October 2015

Case name: 2015_10_16-AEG101
Situation: Two distress calls in the Aegean Sea, near Lesvos and Agathonisi
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Friday the 16th of October 2015, the Alarm Phone was alerted to two distress cases in the Aegean Sea, near Lesvos and Agathonisi.
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The Alarm Phone shift team was informed about a 1st case in the Aegean at 4am through Nawal Soufi's activist collective and the Save the Refugees solidarity group. Both referred to a posting made in an Arabic Facebook group, with a screenshot of the location of a boat, but no other information. The screenshot showed a boat located between the Turkish coast and the Greek islands of Farmakonisi and Agathonisi. Neither we, nor the contact person could establish direct contact with the travellers until the evening at 8pm. One of the travellers called us back and told us that they had been attacked and that their engine had been taken away. The attack, he said, had taken place hat 1.30am after which they had remained in the water until about 9am when the Turkish coastguard came to rescue them. They were taken back to Turkey.

After a quiet Friday morning and afternoon, a 2nd alert reached us around 7pm. A contact person sent us several numbers and the position of a boat north of Lesvos that was in distress, because their steering wheel had broken. Shortly afterwards the contact person told us that the case was solved. We nevertheless tried to contact the travellers and managed to reach them at 7.30pm. The travellers said that they were still in the boat and they could see a boat, but that they were not sure, whether this was a boat of the coastguard or not. They asked us to call the coastguard. We called the Greek authorities, but they told us that the boat was in Turkish waters. At 8.44pm the travellers tried to call us, but again had difficulties with their connection. We tried to call them back throughout the whole evening, but without success. Only on Saturday morning at 3.14am the travellers responded to our call and confirmed that they had been rescued by the Greek coastguard.
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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