23/4: Two boats with a total of 66 people in distress, both rescued to Greece

24.04.2019 / 20:00 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 23rd of April 2019
Case name: 2019_04_23-AEG514
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to boats in distress in the Aegean Sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Tuesday the 23rd of April 2019, our Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to two boats in distress. The first boat carried 22 people, including 9 children and 5 women and they were on their way to Chios. Later we were alerted to a second boat carrying 44 people. Both groups reached Greece safely.

Case 1: At 2.17am CEST, our shift team was alerted to a boat carrying 22 people near Chios Island. We spoke to the Greek coastguards at 2.35am and forwarded the information we had gathered, including a GPS position of the boat. At 2.54am we received a new position which we forwarded to the Greek authorities. At 3.30am, the Greek coastguards confirmed that they were on the way. At 4.45am, they told us that they had found the boat and rescued the group.

Case 2: At approximately 4am CEST, we were alerted to a second boat in distress, this time near Kos Island. When we received an updated GPS position at 4.22am, we contacted the Greek coastguards at 4.32am, and forwarded the information to them. Only a minute later, we received the confirmation from a contact person that the boat had landed independently on Kos Island. We informed the Greek coastguards. The group themselves informed Greek authorities about their whereabouts and asked to be transferred to the next town.
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

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