03/08: 47 travellers on their way to Symi brought back to Turkey

04.08.2020 / 17:57 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 3rd of August 2020
Case name: 2020_08_03-AEG694
Situation: 47 travellers heading towards Symi intercepted by the Turkish coastguard and brought back.
Status of WTM Investigation: concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean sea

Summary of the Case:
On Monday the 3rd of August the Alarm Phone shift team received a call from a group of 47 travellers in distress in the Aegean Sea. The travellers had left from Marmaris, and were heading towards Symi. They told us that they had no working engine. At 7.52 the travellers called us again after having sent us their GPS location and told us that a boat they assumed belonged to the Greek coast guard was circling them and creating waves. At 8.33h CEST we sent an email to the relevant authorities, alerting them to the distress of the travellers. At 8.49 we called the Greek coastguard who informed us that the Turkish coastguard had conducted a rescue operation close to the position we had provided. In a call to the Turkish coast guard they confirmed this information. We were no longer able to reach the travellers.
At 13.08 we were called by the travellers, who informed us that they had been brought back to Turkey and were being held by the police, except pregnant women who had been brought to the hospital.

Last update: 15:57 Dec 07, 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