28/03: 6 people arrested on Kos island

29.03.2022 / 20:20 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 28th of March 2022

Case name: 2022_03_28-Eastern Med - 872
Situation: 6 people aressted by the Hellenic Coat Guard on Kos island, it remains unclear if they were brought to a camp or pushed back
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Eastern Med

Summary of the Case:In the early afternoon of the 28th of March we were informed about six people who got arrested on the island of Kos. We couldn't establish contact to the six people.We repeatendly tried to reach the police station in Kos, but werent successful. At 17:32 CET we wrote an email to the Hellenic Coast Guard as well as Frontex and UNHCR.At 19:21 CET we called the Turkish Coast Guard to check if they rescued a pushed back boat with six people, but they didn't. On the 30th of March, after unsuccsessfully trying to get information about the fate of the six people, the Turkish Coast Guard told us they rescued boats in the Kos area. After checking nationalities we think the Hellenic Coast Guard could have seperated the six people and pushed them back in two different boats. But until now we do not have any confirmation.

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