01/04: More than 60 travellers in distress off Zakynthos

02.04.2022 / 20:32 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 1st of April 2022

Case name: 2022_04_01-EM-876
Situation: More than 60 travellers in distress off Zakynthos
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Eastern Med

Summary of the Case:
In the night from the 30th of March to the 1st of April Alarm Phone was informed about a distress of more than 60 people. The relative writes to us: "Their number is 60 immigrants from Turkey who have been on a trip to Italy for several days but now they are asking for help please contact the police". At 01:44 CEST we alert the Coast Guard Piraeus who tells us they already know about the distress, but refuse to give information. At 02:42 CEST we remarked different merchant vessels changing course and heading towards the people in distress. At 06:13 CEST we finally get in contact with the people on board, they tell us there are high waves, water enters the boat. The Hellenic Coast Guard told them there is a boat nearby but they cannot transfer the people to their boat. In the afternoon of the 1st of April we contact the shipping company of the Merchant vessel standing by, but they only tell us they were "following the instructions of Hellenic MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre)". Only at 20:36 CEST, after more than 20 hours of distress, the Hellenic Coat Guard tells us that over 60 people were safely disembarked.

Last update: 22:10 Jun 03, 2022

Sources

https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1509797978076237831?s=20&t=SnIrTAV31ew_dkL51ZZBtg

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