Groups in distress on Gökçeada Island/Turkey, and at sea near Kos/Greece

04.08.2015 / 20:16 / Aegean Sea, Turkey/Greece

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations - 3rd of August 2015

Case name: 2015_08_03-AEG31
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to a group in distress on a Turkish island and one near the Greek island of Kos
Status of WTM Investigations: Concluded (but investigation on attack ongoing)
Place of Incidents: Aegean Sea, Greece

Summary of the Cases: On Monday the 3rd of August 2015, only minutes passed midnight, the Alarm Phone was contacted by Nawal Soufi’s activist collective and informed about a group of travellers stranded on the Turkish island of Gökçeada. While the information about the situation were limited, we learned that they had run out of food and water 2 days earlier and that at least two of them urgently needed medical care. We then contacted the Turkish coastguards and the UNHCR. At around 9.38am, we contacted the Turkish coastguard again and received the confirmation that they would launch a search and rescue mission for them. A few hours later, the Turkish coastguard stated that they had informed the local authorities on Gökçeada who had already found 16 people and were searching for more people in the area.

At about 4am on the same day, the activist collective told us about a second case, this time somewhere between the Turkish coast and the Greek island of Kos. We reached out to the travellers and they reported that there were between 50 and 60 Syrian refugees on a vessel, including 16 children and 10 women. They said that they were ok and would reach Kos shortly. They also told us about a second refugee vessel that had encountered a police or military vessel that towed them somewhere. They were not certain what had occurred to the second vessel and were worried about its passengers. At about 4.50am, they told us that they had reached Kos and were well. We passed on contact numbers to the Greek UNHCR and the info-guide of w2eu for Greece (source 1).
Last update: 20:22 Aug 09, 2015
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

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