04/11: 30 people were pushed back in the South of Lesvos, brought back to Turkey

05.11.2020 / 10:10 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 4th of November 2020

Case name: 20201104-AEG718

Situation: 30 people were pushed back in the South of Lesvos, brought to Turkey

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On 4th of November 2020 in the early morning hours the Alarm Phone was called by travellers on a boat South of Lesvos. 30 persons, mostly woman and all from Somalia, were drifting in a white and black rubber boat. The engine wasn‘t working since hours, they told us. In the next hour the Alarm Phone was in close communication to the travellers who feared a push-back to Turkey although they were in Greek waters, as also a second GPS position showed. However, at 04:35h we called the Greek coastguards to alert them to the situation. Shortly after an email was sent to them. Unfortunately the contact to the travellers was lost afterwards. At 06h a call to Greek coastguard brought nothing to light. At 08:25h a first tweet was published. Until midday the Alarm Phone called Turkish and Greek coastguards, as well as UNHCR to find any news about what happened to the travellers. The Turkish coastguard officer told the shift team the Greek coastguard had rescued the people, but a Greek coastguard officer told the patrol boats didn‘t find the boat at the GPS position. Shortly after that the travellers sent another GPS position, now in Turkish waters, to Alarm Phone which was forwarded instantly to the responsible authorities. At 12:34h a Turkish coastguard officer said in a phone all that the Greek coastguard pushed the boat to that position. The Alarm Phone tweeted at 13:05h about this play with lives. One hour later the rescue by Turkish coastguard was still in progress and took a while because of the bad weather until 17h. All people were transferred to Izmir. At 17:52h a last tweet was published and at 18:29h the Alarm Phone got the message from the people that they are all fine but back in Turkey.

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

Alarm Phone on Twitter:

08:25h https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1323889687401058304

13:05h https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1323959670940323840

17:52h https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1324031677849653249

Last update: 18:32 Mar 22, 2021

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