10/05: 14 travelers stranded on Nimos Island

11.05.2019 / 21:10 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 10th of May 2019

Case name: 2019_05_10-AEG522
Situation: 14 travelers landed on Nimos Island, rescued by the Greek Port Police
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On Friday, 10th of May, 7pm CEST we received the information that a group of 12 travelers, among them 5 children, arrived at the coast of Nimos Island. At 7:10pm we called the people and who told us that they landed on the beach and everybody was fine, but they needed to be rescued from the place where they were stuck. At 7:25pm we called the Greek Coastguard in Piraeus and sent them an email with the information and the location of the group.
At 7:40pm we tried to inform also the Port Police of Symi but could not get through to them.
At 7:50pm we learned from the travelers that they were in trouble but could not find out exactly what was going on and tried to provide them with helpful information e.g. how to deal with hypothermia.
At 8:10pm we got through to the Police Station on Symi but could not communicate because of language barriers and at 8:15pm we were informed by the travelers that one child was injured.
At 8:26pm we called the Coastguard in Piraeus again who told us they had located the group and were launching a rescue operation but according to them the situation was tricky due to the difficult accessibility of the rocky coast.
At 9:15pm the travelers informed us via WhatsApp that people had come close to them by boat and had left again after telling them that they would be rescued the next day.
At 9:33pm we called the Coastguard and they informed us that the conditions for the rescue in the dark were difficult, but they were continuing the operation.
In the next morning, 11th of May, we tried to re-establish a connection to the travelers but could not get through to them and at 8:50am we got the information from the Port Police that they rescued 14 travelers, among them 5 children, from Nimos Island in the morning. According to them they were all doing fine and were brought to the Port Police. We assumed that this was the group we had been in contact with.

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