05/03: 31 people, including ten woman and nine children, drifting and attacked North of Lesvos, pushed back to Turkish waters and intercepted by Turkish authorities

06.03.2021 / 08:35 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – March 5th 2021

Case name: 20210305-AEG749

Situation: 31 people attacked North of Lesvos and intercepted to Ayvacik District/Canakkale Province, Turkey

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of Case
In the early morning of March 5th Alarm Phone was alerted to a boat with broken engine, drifting, to the North of Lesvos. We received a GPS position and forwarded all details to authorities at 04.21 CET, which was followed up by a phone call to MRCC Piraeus. People on the boat called us at 04.26 CET, relating that a rubber boat which they had previously seen shining a light towards them off the coast of Lesvos, had started pulling them back towards Turkey with a rope. According to the people on the boat there were not enough live vests for all passengers. We could hear a lot of panik on the boat. At 04.55 CET the boat called us again, asking us to stop the towing of their boat towards Turkey. People sounded very afraid. We updated authorities on the boat’s position highlighting the need for urgent assistance. When following the e-mail up with a call to MRCC Piraeous the operator denied all knowledge of this distress case. At 05.30 CET the boat in distress called us again, and related that their motor and petrol had been stolen by the rubber boat towing them which had then left the scene. People on the boat had already called the Turkish coast guard.

In the morning of March 6th we called authorities in Turkey. The operator confirmed that four boats had been returned to Turkey from the area that morning, including a boat carrying 28 and 38 people near the location of the boat which called us. We sent an e-mail to Turkish authorities at 09.25 CET with all details available to us. Tcg confirmed the return of 31 people who had called us in distress, including ten women and nine children, to Ayvacik District/Canakkale Province without any missing people.

The travellers themselves also confirmed later on to be back in Turkey.

Last update: 23:01 Jun 01, 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