01/11: 11 travellers stranded on Lesvos

02.11.2020 / 18:31 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 01st November 2020

Case name: 2020_11_01-AEG716

Situation: 11 travellers stranded south of Lesvos.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: The morning of Sunday the 1st of November the Alarm Phone was alerted to 11 travellers in distress, stranded on the south of Lesvos island. Because of problems with the connection it took several phone calls to understand that they were 5 women and 6 men. We were then informed that UNHCR was already aware about this case. At 13h55 we saw a Facebook post from the page “Aegean Boat Report” which informed about 11 travelers that had landed south of Lesvos and were stranded there. The post also informed that the port police was informed about their location. At 14h10 we emailed Greek authorities with all the information we had to make sure they had received the alert. At 14h19 our shift team called the Greek coastguard in Mytilene (Lesvos) the officer was not aware of the case so took the information we had, including GPS position. The officer told us that they would send a patrol boat to search for the travellers. At 16h11 the coastguard in Mytilene confirmed that the travellers had been found and were brought to Mytilene.

Last update: 09:24 Feb 15, 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