13/10: 30 travellers rescued to Lesvos

14.10.2017 / 20:52 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 13th of October 2017

Case name: 2017_10_13-AEG313
Situation: 30 travellers rescued to Lesvos, after arriving on a smaller island.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Friday the 13th of October 2017, at 11.00pm, a contact person alerted the Alarm Phone shift team to a group of travellers in distress, forwarding us their position and phone number. At 11.15pm we reached the travellers, who told us that they were 30 people on the boat, and that one girl onboard was sick. They were doing okay for the time being, but asked us to contact the Greek coast guard. At 11.18pm we called the Greek coast guard and passed on the information we had. They told us that the position of the boat was in Turkish waters, and that they therefore would call the Turkish coast guard. At 11.20pm we asked the travellers to send us their current position, and after having double checked that this position was in Greek waters, we contacted the Greek coast guard again, and forwarded them the new position both via phone and email.
At 12am we contacted an Alarm Phone activist who is currently at Lesvos, and who was also already involved with the case. Shortly afterwards we spoke to the travellers again, who informed us that they had arrived at an island, and that the coast guard was with them. However, we learned from the Alarm Phone activist on Lesvos that it was not the coast guard, but the solidarity group Refugee Rescue who were with the travellers. The travellers had not arrived at Lesvos, but to a smaller island, and, due to the shallow water, the Pro Activa and Mo Chara vessels could not approach the island. Therefore, they asked us to communicate to the travellers that they needed to board their boat again and return to open water from where the Greek coast guard could pick them up and bring them to Lesvos. At 0.32am we called the travellers and explained this, and at 0.48m the Alarm Phone activist confirmed that the travellers were rescued and would be brought to Lesvos.
Last update: 20:54 Oct 29, 2017
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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