09/01: Family stranded on Pserimos Island, rescued by Hellenic Coast Guard

10.01.2022 / 11:08 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 9th of January 2022

Case name: 2022_01_09-AEG852
Situation: Family of 3 rescued off Pserimos island by Hellenic Coast Guard
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Eastern Med
Summary of the Case:

In the early hours of the 9th of January we received a call from a relative of a Turkish family - parents and their two year old daughter who were stranded on the small Greek island of Pserimos. They also sent a video of the family explaining that they are a lawyer and a lieutenant fleeing persecution from Erdoğan, that they have arrived to this Greek island and do not want to be pushed back to Turkey. They also sent this video to the UNHCR to try to ensure that their human rights will not be violated by being pushed back to Turkey where they risked persecution. At 9:05 CET that morning we received news that the Hellenic Coast Guard had arrived on Pserimos. Then later at 16:28 CET the family confirmed to us that they were at the police station in Kalymnos and that they will be transferred to a migration center the next day. We later got confirmation that the family were able to make an asylum claim in Greece.

We posted this tweet.

Last update: 23:48 May 05, 2022

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