30/3: Two groups of travellers stuck in the Turkish mountains, rescued by the Turkish coast guard

31.03.2019 / 11:22 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 30th of March 2019
Case name: 2019_03_30-AEG501
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to two groups of travellers, stuck in the mountains near Marmaris, both were rescued by the Turkish coast guard
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Saturday 30th of March at 2.45pm CET our shift team was alerted by a contact person to a group of four travellers, including two young children, who were stuck in the mountains close to Marmaris, Turkey. The contact person forwarded us the phone number and position of the travellers, and we immediately tried to call them. But after establishing a first brief contact, we were no longer able to reach them, so we forwarded them the local emergency numbers for them to call for assistance.
At 9.06pm we received information from a contact person about a group of seven travellers, including a pregnant woman and several children, stuck very close to the position we received of the four travellers. We were not able to establish a direct contact to this group but sent them the same emergency numbers as to the first group. At 10.12pm, when we understood that they obviously did not receive our messages, we called the Turkish coast guard, alerting them to this group. In a second call at 0.19am they told us that they had already spotted the group, and would send a second unit to pick them up.
At 6.55am we received an email from the Turkish coast guard, informing us that they had rescued the seven travellers. At 8.39am we called them, and they confirmed the rescue of the seven travellers, as well as of the group of four travellers. Later in the afternoon we reached the seven travellers, who informed us that they were safe.
Credibility: UP DOWN 0
Layers »
  • 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