30/05: 2 boats in distress in the Aegean region, one rescued to Greece, one to Turkey

31.05.2019 / 10:03 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 30th of May 2019
Case name: 2019_05_30-AEG533
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted migrant groups in distress in the Aegean Sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Thursday, the 30th of May 2019, the Alarm Phone was alerted to two boats in the Aegean Sea. The first boat was rescued by the Greek coastguards to Farmakonisi island, the second one is presumed to have been returned to Turkey by the Turkish coastguards.

Case 1: At 1.18am CEST, we were alerted by a contact person to a boat close to the island of Farmakonisi. The engine of the boat had broken and the people were asking for help. It was not possible to establish how many people were on board. At 1.26am, we alerted the Greek coastguards and they confirmed that they would send a patrol boat to the location. At 1.53am, the contact person confirmed that the boat had been found by the coastguards, which was also confirmed by the coastguards at 1.55am.

Case 2: At 2.41am, a contact person alerted us to a boat in distress off the Turkish coast. Their engine had broken down. We reached the boat a minute later and they confirmed that there were approximately 11 people on board, including 2 children. They said that the boat was taking in water and their engine had stopped to function. They were in urgent distress and asked us to alert authorities. At 2.45am we passed the gathered information to the Greek coastguards. At 2.47am we spoke again with the people on board and they were very anxious, asking to be rescued. We were unable to retrieve their precise location. At 3.20am and 3.45am, the Greek coastguards got in touch with us, stating that they needed the concrete location of the boat to intervene. We spoke to our contact person and found out that they had left from Ayvalik in Turkey – we passed this information on to the Greek coastguards who asked us at 5am to call the Turkish coastguards as they had carried out a rescue. At 5.06am the Turkish coastguards confirmed that there had been a rescue operation for a boat with 12 people. While we cannot fully confirm rescue, we believe that this was the boat in question.

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