18/05: Despite a troublesome journey, 9 adults and 2 children reach Samos safely

19.05.2017 / 22:23 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 18th of May 2017‬

Case name: 2017_05_18-AEG286
Situation: 9 adults and 2 children from Didem (Turkey) to Samos‬
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Thursday, the 18th of May 2017, at about 4pm, we received a WhatsApp message from a contact person about a group of travellers in the Aegean Sea, who had lost touch with their friends and family on the mainland. There were 9 adults and 2 children on the boat and they had left from Didem, Turkey at 4 am to Samos, Greece. As the travellers could not be reached, our contact person feared that they had maybe sunk or were in need of assistance. We immediately tried to get in touch with the travellers via WhatsApp and phone. We only reached an answering machine. Throughout the Thursday evening and the following morning, we tried to contact the travellers, but without success. We also kept in touch with the contact person. On Friday at 11.18am the contact person eventually confirmed to us that the travellers had reached their destination safely, despite some troubles underway. The boat had been leaking and the engine had stopped after 2 hours and 15 minutes, but they had made it to an island from where they had been picked up and brought to Samos.

Last update: 22:27 Jun 13, 2017

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