16/11: 24ppl rescued to Southern Lesvos; attack and attempted push back on boat with 40ppl to Lesvos

17.11.2019 / 07:18 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 16th of November 2019

Case name: 2019_11_16-AEG623
Situation: 24 people in distress South-East of Lesvos rescued to Greece; 40 people eventually rescued to Greece after being attacked and having their gasoline stolen
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases:
On the 16th of November our shift team was alerted to two boats in the Aegean Sea. One boat carrying 24 travellers, including 10 children, was rescued to Lesvos after their engine had stopped working. The other boat, carrying 40 travellers including 20 children, was attacked around 5km away from the southern shore of Lesvos. After a failed attempt to push back the boat, the travellers were eventually brought to Greece.

Case 1:
In the morning at 07:18 am CET we received a location of a boat South-East of Lesvos. The 24 travelers, among them 10 children, were afraid because the engine of the boat had stopped working and water was entering the boat. At 07:30 am we alerted the Greek coastguard and at 08:06 am a person on the boat in distress informed us about a vessel which was approaching them. The Greek Coastguard confirmed at 09:45 am the rescue to Mytilene.

Case 2:
Later in the night of the same day, at 11:27 pm CET our shift team received an alert to another boat in the same area through a relative from a person on board, reporting an attack. At 11:31pm we reached the boat, carrying 40 persons among which were 20 children and one pregnant woman. It was stopped about 5km close to Southern Lesvos by a ship. They told us that they were beaten with ropes and that the ship tried to push them back. We could hear kids shouting and crying in the background. We called the Greek Coast Guard at 00:03 am and they informed us about having “a vessel very close to this position”. At 01:13 am we called the Greek Coast Guard again but did not receive any new information. Nevertheless, we received a new position at 03:08 am which showed that the people were rescued and brought to Mytilene. We were told by the relative that the ship first stole the gasoline from the people on the boat in distress, but when the Turkish Coast Guard refused to return the passengers to Turkey, they were brought to Greece by the very same ship.
Last update: 11:05 Dec 29, 2019
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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