09/09: 60 travelers on their way to Kos island/Greece

10.09.2018 / 14:29 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 9th of September 2018

Case name: 2018_09_09-AEG425
Situation: 60 travellers on their way to kos island/ Greece
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On Sunday, 9th of September, at 5am CEST, we were alerted to a boat in distress towards Kos, carrying around 60 people. At 5:10am we managed to establish contact to the travelers that asked for immediate help. We also received their GPS position. At 5:19am we called the Greek Coast Guard and alerted them to the boat. They asked us to call the Turkish Coast Guard. As the situation had been described as very urgent we also called the Turkish Coast Guard at 5:32am. We stayed in contact with the travelers and called the Turkish Coast Guard again at 6:15am. The responding officer told us that they had not found a boat at the given GPS position but would still try to find the boat. We couldn’t establish a connection to the travelers anymore. At 9:45am we called the Turkish Coast Guard again, but they hadn’t found any boat. We couldn’t reach the travelers the whole day. At 8:30pm we managed to reach the port authority of Kos that informed us that a boat with around 60 people had arrived at 8am in the morning. We couldn’t confirm their safe arrival with the travelers directly.

Last update: 20:14 Sep 26, 2018

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