18/08: 1 boat pushed back from Greece to Turkey

19.08.2021 / 20:35 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 18th of August 2021

Case name: 20210818-AEG809

Situation: eight people pushed back from Greece to Turkey and then rescued by the Turkish Coastguard

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

At 22:15 CEST on the 18th of August we were informed by a relative about eight people in a deflating rubber boat in Greek waters. We couldn’t establish contact to the people on the boat. At 22:25 CEST we called the Greek Coastguard and sent them an email with all information. At 23:52 CEST the relative informed us that he received a message from the people in the boat saying that a Greek boat was close to them. We asked the Greek Coastguard if they could confirm that, but they still said they are investigating. At 00:33 CEST we decided to call the Turkish Coastguard even though the last position of the boat was in Greek waters, because the boat was deflating and we were very worried.

At 01:11 CEST we called the Turkish Coastguard again, but they claimed to not have found the boat. When we called the Greek Coastguard at 01:37 CEST they also say they searched but couldn’t find the boat. We still didn’t manage to get in contact with the boat. At 10:20 CEST on the 19th of August the Turkish Coastguard told us they rescued 8 people on a rubber boat. We could later confirm through the relative that it was the people from the boat he had informed us about.

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