05/06: one boat with 19 people heading to North-Lesvos, rescued by Turkish coast guard after being attacked

06.06.2020 / 15:26 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 2nd of June 2020

Case name: 2020_06_05-AEG675
Situation: one boat with 19 people was attacked by a boat coming from Greece and then rescued by Turkish coast guard
Status of WTM Investigation: concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On 5th of June 2020 the Alarm Phone was called at 05:28h CEST by people who found a live video on Facebook showing the attack of a boat in the Aegean Sea. At 05:54h contact to the travellers could be established. They reported that they were attacked by people coming with a boat from Greece. One man had been injured by a man because he filmed the situation. A position received at 05:50h showed that the boat was in Greek waters. At 06:24h the Alarm Phone called Greek coast guard and passed the information. An email also to UNHCR Greece and Turkey was sent 10 minutes later. The travellers sent another video where a ship in vicinity is shown but doing nothing and stated that water is coming in because their boat were punctured and the sea were rough. The travellers are constantly asking for help. At 7:42h the travellers informed the shift team that the Turkish coast guard is moving around their boat. Half an hour later at 8:14h the Alarm Phone learned that the travellers are on the ship of the Turkish coast guard.

We are still investigating the detailed developments and will include potential updates into this report later on.

Twitter chronology:
07:14h https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1268773074142408704
07:42h https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1268780163766026240
09:14h https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1268803389309231105

Last update: 13:39 Oct 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