08/11: 39 people in distress, rescued to Leros/Greece

09.11.2018 / 10:06 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 8th of November 2018

Case name: 2018_11_08-AEG456
Situation: Distress situation in the Aegean Sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Closed
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Thursday the 8th of November 2018, the Alarm Phone was alerted at 2.45am by a contact person to a boat in distress, carrying a total of 39 people, among them about 25 children and women, one of whom was pregnant. We shortly afterwards spoke to the travellers on the boat and they confirmed their GPS position. The contact person stressed that the pregnant woman was about to give birth on the boat. At 3.08am we spoke to the people again and they told us that water was entering their vessel. We informed the Greek coastguards at 3.14am. At 3.40am the Greek coastguards contacted us, stating that the boat was not at the given GPS position. At 3.45am we spoke to the travellers again and they were in panic. Shortly after, the Greek coastguards called us to say that they had discovered the boat. At 4.20am, the coastguards confirmed that they had rescued the people who were then transported to Leros Island.

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