26/09: 6 people landed on Kos

27.09.2021 / 15:38 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 26th of September 2021

Case name: 20210926-AEG829
Situation: Six people got lost on the island of KosStatus of WTM Investigation: ConcludedPlace of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On the 26th of September at 17:07 CEST we were contacted by a relative about six people who landed on the island of Kos and are lost there. We couldn't establish a direct contact to the people. Still we called the police station in Kos at 17:34 CEST as well as the Port authority but none of them picked up their phone. The authorities stayed unresponsive when we tried again in the night and the next morning. After we couldn't establish contact to the group on the island for more than 24 hours, we called the Turkish Coastguard in fear of a pushback in the evening of the 27th September. They told us they found a group of six people in the area around Kos. On the 15th of October we got in contact again with one person of the group on the move, they told us the six of them are safe on Kos now.

Until now we couldn't find out wether they were pushed back on the 26th and made it to Kos in another crossing or if they were able to stay in Kos on the 26th.

See our tweet about the case here.

Last update: 16:02 Dec 07, 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