29/12: 1 group of travellers stranded on Symi, Greece and another group stranded near Karakoy Mahallesi/Cesme, Turkey

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  Stranded

30.12.2018 / 10:00 / Aegean

29/12: 1 group of travellers stranded on Symi, Greece and another group stranded near Karakoy Mahallesi/Cesme, Turkey

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 29th of December 2018
Case name: 2018_12_29-AEG475
Situation: 1 group of travellers stranded on Symi, Greece and another group stranded near Karakoy Mahallesi/Cesme, Turkey
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: In the early hours of Saturday the 29th of December 2018 the Alarm phone shift team was alerted to two groups stranded in the Aegean. The first was a group of 20 travellers (including 7 women and 7 children) who were stranded on Symi island. They were rescued at dawn by the Greek coastguard. The second group of 18 travellers (including 8 women and 6 children) tried to walk back to Turkey near to Karakoy/Cesme. Of the women, one was pregnant and two were elderly, and the children were freezing. They were unable to make it on foot to the nearest village. We alerted the Turkish coastguard who picked them up a few hours later.
At 2:28am the Alarm phone shift team was alerted to a group of 20 people (including 7 women and 7 children) who were stranded on Symi island. The group provided us with their GPS coordinates which we gave (along with contact numbers for the group) to the Greek coast guard. We received an update at 6:30am that the Greek coastguard had picked up the group, and sent us a video evidencing this.
At 2:31am we were alerted to a group of 13 travellers stranded in Turkey who were unable to walk further because of the cold. At 3:15am we contacted the Turkish coast guard who recorded the information we gave them, but were confused on the number of travellers as they had already been alerted to this group but had been provided with a different number of travellers (30). After confirming details with the group of travellers with the assistance of a translator, we were able to update the Turkish coast guard at 3:30am. At 6:42am we received information from a contact person that the Turkish police had arrived to the travellers.
Last update: 18:44 Jan 19, 2019
Credibility: UP DOWN -1
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