14/4: 13 people stuck at the landborder and most probably pushed back

15.04.2022 / 09:30 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 14th of April 2022

Case name: 20xx_mm_dd-Eastern Med - 881

Situation: 13 people stuck at the landborder, Boarder Guards didn't perform rescue, fate unclear

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Eastern Med

Summary of the Case:

On the 14th of April we were informed about a group of 13 people stuck at the border Turkey/Greece, on a small island in the Evros river. According to the relative a greek "commando" came in the morning and took pictures of the 13 people. When we reached the people themselves they told us they entered the island on the 12th of April and were then beaten by strangers. They told us they don't have any more food or water and there is a person with a chronical disease as well as a person pregnant in the 7th or 8th month with them. At 13:40 CEST we inform the Hellenic Coast Guard as well as local Border Guards about the situation.

Until the evening the Border Guards did not perform a rescue, the people who were stuck on the island only told us that Turkish soldiers "insulted their mothers and scared the children and women that the Greek government are going to beat them." But they said they will not go back to Turkey again.

In the afternoon of the 15th of April, after unsuccessfully asking the Border Guards to evacuate the people, we were informed by a relative that the Hellenic Coast Guard came, beat them, and they were brought back to Turkey. According to the relative they "lost a woman" and an unborn child.

The Hellenic Coast Guard told us they couldn't find the people. On the 15th of April they tell us they will stop the search.

We could never reestablish contact with the people on the move.

twitter:https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1514578853439623180, https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1514578853439623180%5D, https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1514648902699565056

Last update: 09:37 Nov 04, 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