05/03: 57 travellers landed on Farmakonisi

06.03.2019 / 12:33 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 5th of March 2019

Case name: 2019_03_05-AEG492
Situation: 57 travellers landed on Farmakonisi
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On Tuesday, 5th of March, at 4:50am CET, we were alerted to a boat in distress close to the island of Farmakonisi. We couldn’t establish a connection to the travellers, but the contact person sent us a new location shortly after and asked us to alert the Greek Coast Guard. We called JRCC Piraeus at 5:10am and also sent an email to the respective authorities to document the alert. At 5:33am, the contact person transferred us a new GPS position of the boat. At 5:33am we called the Greek Coast Guard to pass the new position. They informed us that the travellers were already rescued by a patrol boat. At 5:42am the contact person had reached the travellers again, they were not with the patrol boat anymore but had landed on the uninhabited military island Farmakonisi. They were with the Greek army, waiting for their transfer to Leros island. At 8:40am Leros Port authority confirmed that the travellers had been safely transferred to Leros. We couldn’t reach the travellers to verify with them as well, but he contact person confirmed the safe arrival.

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