01/10: Three distress calls in the Aegean, only one group reached Greece

02.10.2019 / 10:09 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 1st of October 2019

Case name: 2019_10_01-AEG585
Situation: two groups returned to Turkey, one rescued to Greece
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:
On 1st of October the Alarm Phone was alerted to three cases in the Aegean Sea.
At 05:54am CEST in the morning the recent shift team received a location of a boat with 27 travellers, close to the island of Farmakonisi. The shift team spoke to the people on board, they stated to be on a wooden boat, the engine was not working and they were afraid. When alerting the Greek coastguard at 06:06am CEST the Alarm Phone learned they had spotted the boat, but in another location which would be in Turkish waters. They insisted on this and said the position which was provided to them would be wrong. The Turkish coastguard later on confirmed the rescue. The Alarm Phone still has doubts how the boat came from a position in Greek waters back to Turkish waters. Even more because of two more cases on 23 and 28 of September when travellers reported to have been attacked and engines stolen or destroyed. Until now it wasn’t possible to get again in touch with the travellers to find out what had happened on that day at the borderline.
At 08:56am CEST the shift team got alerted by a group of people who stranded on Symi island. It was quite difficult to get a precise location. At 09:34am CEST the Alarm Phone managed to provide a location to the Greek authorities. The Greek coastguard confirmed at 11:31am CEST that they had found and picked up the stranded people on Symi.
Around 12:00am CEST the Alarm Phone had a short contact with a boat, the connection broke before the shift team found out where the boat was located. Many attempts were made to reach the people. Finally at 6:13pm CEST our shift team got in contact with the people again who reported that they had been intercepted by the Turkish coastguard and were arrested in a police station now.

Last update: 17:21 Nov 03, 2019

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