14/04: 35 travellers in distress in the Aegean, returned to Turkey

14.04.2018 / 19:47 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 14th of April 2018

Case name: 2018_04_14-AEG374
Situation: 35 travellers intercepted to Turkey
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Monday the 14th of April, at 6.39am, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a contact person to a group of travellers South-East of Lesvos, forwarding us their phone number and a position. The boat was located in Turkish waters and had run out of fuel. At 6.50am we reached the them on the phone. They explained that they were 35 persons, among them many women and children and that they had run out of fuel. They did not feel in danger and we passed to them the number of the Turkish Coastguard so they could alert them in case they needed assistance. At 7.35am and 8:30am we talked again with them and they still said they were able to reach out by themselves to the Turkish Coastguard in case they needed help. Afterwards we lost the contact to the boat until 11:35am when we could speak to the travellers with the help of an Arabic translator. They arrived safely back in Izmir and were held in a police station. Later the day relatives of the travellers contacted us, who were still worried about their well-being. We did some research into the situation and found out that there had been two boats: One with about 50 people on board was rescued by the Greek Coastguards to Greece and the other with about 40 people on board was returned by the Turkish Coastguard to Izmir, Turkey.

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