22/03: 59 travellers rescued to Lesvos/ Greece

Verified

  In Distress

23.03.2018 / 10:25 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 22nd of March 2018

Case name: 2018_21_03-AEG351
Situation: 59 travellers rescued to Lesvos/ Greece
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On Thursday, 22nd of March, at 4:40am CET, we received a distress alert from a boat south of Lesvos, carrying around 50 people, among them 10 children. We tried to call the boat but couldn’t establish a connection. Nevertheless the travellers managed to send us their GPS position at 4:53am. At 4:55am we informed the Greek Coast Guard in Piraeus about the boat. We also sent all information regarding the case via E-Mail to the respective authorities. At 5:25am, we called the Coast Guard again that confirmed that they had spotted the boat and a rescue asset would already be close by. At 5:30am local contacts confirmed that the travellers had been picked up by the Greek Coast Guard. At 9:41am we called the Coast Guard in Piraeus that also confirmed the rescue of in total 59 people to Lesvos.
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

Related Reports

14:47 Feb 01, 2020 / Aegean Sea Kms
31/01: 38 travellers in distress in the south of Lesvos, arrived safely by themselves
15:48 Mar 31, 2020 / Aegean Sea Kms
30/03 : Boat in distress in greek waters, drifting and later picked up by Turkish Coast Guards
20:44 Jul 26, 2017 / Lesvos, Greece Kms
25/07: 54 travellers rescued to Lesvos Island
09:45 Mar 16, 2018 / Aegean Sea Kms
15/03 Boat in distress with about 65 people on board, including 25 children, safely arrived on the Greek island of Lesvos
18:53 Oct 04, 2018 / Aegean Sea Kms
03/10: 3 boats: 1 intercepted by the Turkish Coastguard, 1 arrived to Lesvos, 1 arrived to Samos