08/12: One boat intercepted by Turkish Coastguard.

Verified

  In Distress   Interception

09.12.2019 / 18:57 / Aegean sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 8th of December 2019
Case name: 2019_12_08-AEG633
Situation: 7 travellers rescued by the Turkish Coastguard and brought back to Turkey.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: At 11.44 CET of Sunday the 8th of December the Alarm phone was alerted to a boat in distress near Chios but still in Turkish waters. The boat was carrying 7 travellers, the engine had stopped and water was entering the boat. The travellers had already alerted the Turkish Coastguard themselves. Before we could contact the Turkish coastguard the travellers confirmed that they had already been rescued and brought back to Turkey. They told us that this was already their 7th attempt to cross to Greece but that every time they have been intercepted.
Last update: 18:42 Dec 30, 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

Related Reports

20:50 Jul 27, 2015 / Aegean Sea, Chios Island Kms
Three boats in distress in the Aegean Sea near the island of Chios, all travellers returned to Turkey
10:20 Oct 03, 2019 / Aegean Sea Kms
02/10: 6 people near Chios, brought back to Turkey
12:38 Sep 11, 2015 / Greek islands of Lesvos, Samos, and Chios Kms
Alarm Phone alerted to 11 distress cases, mainly near the Greek islands of Lesvos, Samos, and Chios
01:11 Nov 12, 2019 / Aegean Sea Kms
11/11: 30 travelers attacked and pulled back to Turkey; 44 travelers rescued by Turkey.
17:01 Nov 16, 2014 / Chios/Greece-Cesme/Turkey Kms
"They want to see us drown" – Survivors of a push back operation in the Aegean Sea report to the Watch The Med Alarm Phone