13/04: 19 travellers rescued to Küçükkuyu / Çanakkale

14.04.2019 / 11:43 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 13th of April 2019

Case name: 2019_04_13-AEG508
Situation: 19 travellers rescued to Küçükkuyu / Çanakkale
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On Saturday, 13th of April at 3:49am CEST, our shift team was alerted to a boat in distress, close to Altınoluk, Turkey by a contact person who sent us a position of the boat. We were told that the Turkish Coast Guard was already informed. We established a connection to the travelers but due to langue barriers we could not learn more about their situation. At 3:57am the contact person sent us a new location and at 4:04am we called the Turkish Coast Guard who confirmed that they already initiated a rescue and asked us to call again in one hour.
At 4:15am we re-established a connection to the travelers. They told us that water was entering the boat, the engine stopped working but nobody was missing or injured. We informed them that the Turkish Coast Guard was on their way.
At 4:20am we called the Turkish Coast Guard again to pass on the new information about the condition of the travelers and the boat. An e-mail with the collected information was sent to them at the same time. The Coast Guard informed us that they sighted the boat close to the coast with a telescope and an aircraft and that there was no acute danger at that moment. At 4:33am the Coast Guard informed us via phone call that they initiate the rescue. We could not reach the travelers to pass on the information.
At 4:57am the Turkish Coast Guard sent a confirmation via e-mail that their rescue vessel picked up the travelers and was transferring them to Küçükkuyu Port/Çanakkale.
We continued to try and call the travelers without success.
At 5:51am the Turkish Coast Guard confirmed via phone call that the people arrived at the port. According to them they were 20 travelers on the boat.
At 11:05am our shift team received the confirmation also by the travelers that they had been brought to Turkey and everybody was 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