18/03: 1 boat carrying 30 people rescued to Mytilene/Lesvos by Greek Coast Guard

19.03.2020 / 13:13 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 18h of March 2020
Case name: 2020_03_18-AEG662
Situation: 30 people rescued to Mytilene by Greek coast guard
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:
Around midday on March 18th 2020, Watch the Med Alarm Phone was alerted to a boat in distress close to the island of Lesvos. The relatives of a person on the boat who alerted the Alarm Phone had had no news from the boat since 08.00h CET that day, and so decided to make a distress call. The boat’s position was forwarded to the Greek coastguard in Piraeus who, at 13.02h confirmed that a boat at this position had been rescued to Mytilene. According to the people on the boat, there were ships flying Turkish and Greek flags patrolling near them during the day, who had seen their boat, but made no attempt to rescue them.

Last update: 09:48 May 23, 2020

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