14/03: 22 travellers pushed back by the Hellenic coast guard and intercepted back to Turkey

15.03.2021 / 10:18 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 14th of March 2021
Case name: 2021_03_14-AEG753
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to one boat pushed back to Turkey along with many others. According to Turkish coast guard all travellers were intercepted and brought back to Turkey
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:
On Sunday the 14th of March 2021 at 13.40 CEST the Alarm Phone shift team was called by a relative and alerted to a group of 22 travellers, including several women, who had been transferred to a life raft by the Hellenic coast guard and pushed back and abandoned in Turkish waters. According to the relative all of the travellers’ phones had been confiscated, apart from one with which they had made their call for help. We managed to reach the travellers, and they sent us their position along with photos of their situation. At 14.19 CEST we called the Turkish coast guard and passed on the information we had. The officer told us that they had already been informed by the Hellenic coast guard that they had pushed back around five rubber boats who were now adrift close to the position we forwarded them. They confirmed that their rescue vessels were already on their way and should reach the travellers soon. At 14.54 CEST we called back the Turkish coast guards. They informed us that they had rescued the group of travellers we had alerted them to. They further said that there were around seven to eight life rafts adrift with around 100 people in total. Rescue was still ongoing as it would take them a while to rescue this many people, but they told us that according to their information no travellers were missing at sea.
Last update: 10:33 Jul 31, 2021
Credibility: UP DOWN 0
Layers »
  • 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