17/05: 40 people rescued to Kos, 55 people attacked and pulled back to Turkey

18.05.2019 / 10:36 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 17th of May 2019

Case name: 2019_05_17-AEG525
Situation: 40 people rescued to Kos, 55 people attacked and pulled back to Turkey
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases:

On Friday, 17th of May the Alarm Phone was alerted to two boats in distress in the Aegean Sea. The boat with 40 travellers was eventually rescued to the island of Kos. The second boat with 55 people on board was attacked by masked men close to the Greek island Samos. They were eventually pulled back by the Turkish Coast Guard.

Case 1: At 3:20am CEST we were alerted to a boat in distress on its way to Kos island, carrying 40 people. We could not establish a direct connection to the travellers, but received their GPS position via the contact person at 3:46am. The contact person informed us that the boat was losing air. At 3:46am we informed the Greek Coast Guard in Piraeus. We also sent an email to the respective authorities to document the alert. At 4:11am, we managed to reach the travellers. They told us that they would see a military ship close to them. At 4:12am we called the Greek Coast Guard again to pass this information. At 4:18am, the contact person informed us that the Coast Guard had reached the boat in distress. At 5:34am, the Coast Guard called the Alarm Phone to confirm the rescue.

Case 2 : At 4:25am CEST we were informed about a boat on its way to Samos with more than 50 people on board. According to the contact person, masked men had just attacked the boat, turned off the engine and stole the fuel. At 4:26am we managed to establish a connection to the travellers. They were 55 people on board, among them 15 women and an infant. They claimed masked men with black military clothes and speaking Greek arrived with a black highspeed dinghy, stole their fuel, and turned off their engine while they were left adrift in Turkish waters in the middle between Kusadasi and Samos Island in Greece. At 4:37am we received their GPS position. About 15 minutes after the masked men left, the Turkish coastguard was getting near them. At 4:38am the people told the Alarmphone that they could see the boat of the masked men still nearby. At 4:39am the contact person informed us that a coast guard ship had arrived. We couldn’t reach the travellers again. At 4:54am the contact person informed us that the people had been picked up by the Turkish Coast Guard. We tried to reach the travellers again the following days and as we were informed later the Turkish Coast Guard had arrived later after sunrise with a big boat, intercepted them and pulled them back to Turkey. They were then brought to Aydin in detention.
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