18/07: 56 travellers in distress rescued to Lesvos

19.07.2017 / 20:43 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 18th of July 2017

Case name: 2017_07_18-AEG293
Situation: Travellers on their way to Lesvos rescued
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Tuesday the 18th of July 2017, at 4.30am, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a contact person to a group of 56 travellers, amongst them 10 women and 15 children, in distress. We were not able to reach the travellers ourselves, but could get an updated position of the boat through the contact person. At 5.06am we called the Greek coast guard, passed on the information about the boat, and informed the local rescue organisation ERCI. We kept trying to reach the travellers, and at 5.48am we received a WhatsApp message from them, informing us that they had been rescued by a British boat, which we assume is a Frontex vessel. The rescue was also confirmed by ERCI who talked to the coast guard. The travellers told us that they were followed by the Turkish coast guard and that they were very happy that they managed to cross the border before they were intercepted.

Last update: 20:59 Jul 24, 2017

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