18/06: Shipwreck in Mykonos

19.06.2022 / 10:58 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations –18th of June 2022

Case name: 2022_06_18-EasternMed916

Situation: Shipwreck in Mykonos, 8 people recorded missing, including 3 children - 3 people facing criminal charges

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Eastern Med
Summary of the Case: On Saturday the 18th of June 2022, at 22:05, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted about a boat in distress close to the island of Mykonos, carrying around 100 people including many children. People on board informed us the boat was sinking and there was a bad storm, with winds of 7 Beaufort. Alarm Phone alerted the Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG) of the boat in distress at 22:36, who informed us they would investigate, and later confirmed they had launched a rescue operation which began around 23:30. The HCG reportedly tried to tow the ship to a small rocky islet, Agios Giorgios, but the towing rope broke, meaning the ship was smashed on the rocks of the islet and the people had to make their own way to land. A few hours later, in the morning of 19th June, 104 people were brought to Mykonos and one seriously injured person was taken to hospital. Eight people were reported missing, including 3 children. Three people were criminalized and charged with "facilitating the unauthorized entry of 105 people", "forming a criminal organization" and "causing a shipwreck”. Some survivors were taken to Amygdaleza detention center in Athens.

Last update: 14:29 Dec 22, 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