14/10: Boat with 14 people from Marmaris, Turkey arrived on Rhodos

15.10.2021 / 16:09 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 14th of October 2021

Case name: 20211014-AEG833
Situation: Boat with 14 people from Marmaris Turkey arrived on RhodosStatus of WTM Investigation: ConcludedPlace of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On the 14th of October in the evening we were informed about a boat with 14 people that left from Marmaris, Turkey and was heading to Rhodos. We tried to call the people on the boat but were never able to establish contact. Thus, we called the Turkish Coast Guard at 20:45 CEST to ask whether they knew of any boats that might have left Marmaris. We then forwarded the case the UNHCR in Greece and Turkey as well. The next morning we decided to forward the case to the Hellenic Coast Guard as well, even though the relative alarming us didn't think the travellers made it to the Greek Search and Rescue Zone. At 10:00 CEST the Turkish Coast Guard confirmed they weren't aware of any boats in the Marmaris region in the last 48 hours. At 12:09 CEST we received an e-mail from UNHCR in Greece who confirmed that the people on the boat were brought to quarantine camp in Rhodos.

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