18/10: Two boats in distress land on Chios Island

19.10.2018 / 11:36 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 18th of October 2018

Case name: 2018_10_18-AEG444
Situation: Distress situation in the Aegean Sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Closed
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Thursday, the 18th of October 2018, our Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to two boats in distress. Both reached Chios Island/Greece safely.

Boat 1: At 3.07am, a contact person forwarded a GPS position of a boat in distress to us, showing them in Greek waters, close to Chios island. We were informed that there were 38 people in total, including 15 women and at least 10 children, including an infant. We were able to reach the boat at 3.14am and were told that they had just independently reached Chios island. Everyone was in good health but some were wet and they were stuck on a beach in the south-east of the island. We received a new GPS position which we forwarded to the Greek coastguards at 3.25am. They said that they would alert authorities in Chios to the group.

Boat 2: At 6.14am, we were alerted by a contact person to a second boat on its way to Chios, carrying 42 people, including 12 children. At 6.17am, 6.26am and 6.35am, we received GPS positions from the boat. We alerted the Greek coastguards at 6.35am to the case and passed on all information. Afterwards we were unable to re-establish contact to the boat. At 7.48am, the Greek coastguards informed us that the boat had reached Chios Island and the people were safe.

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