11/05: 14 travelers started from Lebanon, rescued to Cyprus

12.05.2019 / 21:12 / Lebanon/Cyprus

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 11th of May 2019

Case name: 2019_05_11-AEG523 / 2019_05_11-LEB/CYP003
Situation: 14 travelers on their way from Lebanon to Cyprus, engine stopped, rescued by Coast Guard of Cyprus
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On Saturday, 11th of May at 11:17am our shift team received first information from a contact person about 15 travelers who had left from Lebanon towards Cyprus the day before. According to the contact person their engine had stopped working. More information was not available at that time.
We tried to establish a connection to the travelers, but we could not reach them, and neither could we talk to our contact person again. We could only monitor their Thuraya credit balance decrease, so we concluded that they themselves were in the process of communicating with other agencies. As we could not find out further information or verify the information, but the Thuraya phone was obviously in use, we decided to call MRCC Piraeus at 5pm nevertheless to tell them about the case with the little of information we had. They told us to inform the Coast Guards of Cyprus and Lebanon which we did.
At 5:45pm we were forwarded from the JRCC of Cyprus to the Marine Police of Cyprus and gave them the information we had. We agreed to update them if we received new information. We continued to get through to the people and checked their Thuraya credit balance continuously, but we could not reach them.
In the next morning, 12th of May, we could still not get through to the travelers and our contact person did not have any news. At 8:30am we called the Coast Guard of Cyprus and learned that they had stopped their search and rescue mission because they could not get in contact to the travelers and there was no new information. They had alerted all the vessels in the vicinity but none of them had spotted the boat.
At 10:20am we learned from our contact person that the travelers had been at 80km off the coast of Cyprus according to the latest news and that there definitely were women and children on board. We passed this information to the Coast Guard and the Marine Police of Cyprus. Meanwhile we could still not get through to the travelers.
At 2:47pm the Coast Guard of Cyprus called us back to inform us they had spotted a boat in distress and that their rescue vessel was going towards them at that moment. At 4:10pm we received the confirmation from the Coast Guard of Cyprus that the rescue operation was in progress and that there were 14 people on board, among them 1 woman and 3 children. The travelers should be brought to the area of Larnaca, Cyprus. We informed our contact person who confirmed that they had received the same information.
Last update: 11:06 Nov 04, 2021
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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