Vessel attacked by Greek authorities, rescued by Turkey

11.08.2015 / 17:22 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations - 10th of August 2015

Case name: 2015_08_10-AEG36
Situation: 30 travellers attacked by Greek coastguard who took their engine and left them in distress; vessel rescued by Turkey
Status of WTM Investigations: Concluded
Place of Incidents: Aegean Sea

Summary of the case: On Monday the 10th of August, at approximately 9am, Nawal Soufi’s activist collective alerted us to a situation of distress in the Aegean Sea. They knew of a vessel carrying 30 people that had been stopped by Greek authorities who took away their engine, leaving them behind in an emergency situation. We sought to contact the travellers but were unable to reach them. Shortly afterwards we were told by the collective that they had been rescued by the Turkish coastguard. Later on we learned that they had been released from the Turkish police station where they had been brought after their rescue.

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