27/03: 35 travelers intercepted by Turkish coastguard

28.03.2021 / 15:56 / Aegean Sea

Watch
The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 27th of March 2021
Case
name: 20210327-AEG776
Situation:
35 tavelers (4 women, 5 children) between Turkey and Greece,
travelers end up back in Izmir, Turkey.
Status
of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place
of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary
of the Case: 39.0021040,
26.8039650
On the 27th
of March 2021 at 20h57 CET, the Alarm Phone was called by a group of
travelers. They were in panic, telling us that they were 35 people,
among them four women and five children. The woman who was talking to
us reported that there was a problem with their engine, and there
were sick people. Then, the call broke off. At 21h47 CET, we received
a GPS location via WhatsApp. It was on Turkish mainland south of
Bademli. At 22h28 CET, we could talk to a woman of the group who
explained that they were with the Turkish police. During the night,
we could not re-establish the connection to the travelers. The next
afternoon, they called us back and reported to be in Izmir, Turkey.
They explained what had happened to them: during the crossing, they
had been attacked and their engine had been removed, so they could
not move on. Then they had been brought back to Turkey.

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