24/06: 13 people pushed back from Greece to Turkey.

24.06.2021 / 00:37 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 24th of June 2021

Case name: 20210624-AEG790

Situation: 13 travelers pushed back from Greece to Turkey near Rhodos

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On 24th of June we received a call from a relative of people in distress traveling in a boat.

At 01:18 CEST we called the authorities in Piraeus and informed them about the boat with 13 people off Rhodos, they told us they will investigate.

At 01:38 CEST we got the information from the Turkish Coastguard that they have seen the boat with 13 people and Greek Coastguards conducting rescue.

On June 25th at 08:15 CEST we called the Rescue Coordination Centre Rhodos for a confirmation of the rescue but they tell us they have no information about 13 people in a boat and that there was no Search and Rescue Mission taking place the night before.

At 08:30 CEST we called the Greek Coastguard in Piraeus who told us they searched but didn’t find people where the boat should have been according to the coordinates. They told us they saw the Turkish Coastguards conducting a rescue not far from where they searched.

At 11:40 the Turkish Coastguard confirms the rescue and tell us the people were transferred to Marmaris.

Last update: 10:06 Sep 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