25/04: 75 people stranded on the island of Kythria

26.04.2022 / 10:05 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 25th of April 2022

Case name: 2022_04_25-AEG889

Situation: Group of 75 travellers stranded, Hellenic Coast Guard located them

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Eastern Med

Summary of the Case: Around midnight of the 25th of April 2022, Alarm Phone received a call by a relative, alerting us to a group of 75 people, including 17 children in distress who had departed from Turkey. We managed to establish direct contact to the people who relayed to us that they had been in a shipwreck and were now on the island of Kythria, some people were injured, some missing and they had no drinking water. We immediately alerted the Greek authorities at 00:25, and at 02:45 Pireaus told us that they had a patrol boat in the area, and at 08:45 they said that everyone had been located and brought to the main port of Kythria. A few hours later we were contacted by some of the group of travellers who told us that they were still hiding because they were scared to go with Hellenic Coast Guard alone, that they wanted an NGO to go with them so that they didn't get beaten. The group then did get stopped by the police and we didn’t hear any news from them thereafter.

Twitter/news link:
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1518726507740291072; https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1518861610454069249

https://www.efsyn.gr/ellada/koinonia/341915_dekades-metanastes-entopistikan-sta-kythira

https://www.hcg.gr/el/epikairothta/entopismos-allodapwn-kai-syllhpsh-twn-tessarwn-diakinhtwn-toys-sta-ky8hra/

Last update: 10:09 Nov 14, 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