12/04 : 28 people landed on Agathonisi island

13.04.2019 / 09:41 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 12th of April 2019

Case name: 2019_04_12-AEG507
Situation: 28 people landed at Agathonisi island
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On Friday, 12th of April, at 1:26am CEST, the Alarm Phone was alerted to a boat on it's way to Agathonisi island, carrying 28 travellers (incl. 10 women and 8 children). The contact to the boat had been lost and the last position available had been from 30 minutes earlier, around 1am. The boat had then been very close to the borderline, but still in Turkish waters.
At 2:06am we called the Greek Coastguard who insisted to call the Turkish Coast Guard, We alerted the Turkish authorities at 2:35am, that stated that they had been already informed by the Greek Coast Guard. We sent emails to both Greek and Turkish authorities to document the alert. At 3:01am we called the Turkish authorities again, that couldn’t provide us with new information, simply stating rescue would be initiated. We still couldn’t establish a connection to the travellers, but at 4:30am a contact person sent us a GPS position of the group that was on land, on Agathonisi. We called the Greek Coast Guard and informed them about the position of the travellers, who had obviously landed by themselves on the island. We also informed the Turkish Coast Guard and wrote an email with the updated position to all authorities involved. Afterwards we tried to establish a connection to the port police of Agathonisi, but could not reach anyone in order to ask for assistance for the group. At 7:26am, a contact person confirmed that all travellers were safely at the port and waiting to be transferred to Kos.
Last update: 09:45 May 02, 2019
Credibility: UP DOWN 0
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