22/06: 110 travellers pushed back to Turkey

23.06.2022 / 11:18 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 22nd of June 2022

Case name: 2022_06_22-EasternMed922

Situation: 110 travellers on a boat travelling towards Italy, detected in Greek waters and pushed back to Turkey

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Eastern Med

Summary of the Case:

On 22nd June 2022 at 19:49h CEST the Alarm Phone was alerted by relatives to about 100 travellers who were on a sailing boat, drifting between the islands of Atsipalaia and Amorgos, urgently asking for help. The engine stopped working and the driver left the group. We tried to get in touch with the travellers, but were not able to establish a connection.

At 20:22h CEST we alerted the Hellenic Coast Guard by email and also by phone call at 20:37h CEST. At 22:27h CEST we called JRCC Piraeus again. The officer on the phone confirmed to have received our e-mails, and said they are still investigating, but that work is in progress and they are looking for them.

At 22:27h CEST we received an updated location and again informed Greek authorities about it.

At 00:36h CEST in another phone call to JRCC Piraeus, they confirmed again that they have received our mail, and that they are investigating.

At 9:20h CEST of the next morning, JRCC Piraeus stated that they undertook a search and rescue mission in this area, but with negative results. They informed as that they won't do anything anymore.

We still could not establish contact with the travellers, but relatives told us that they think the boat was pushed back to Turkey. After that, we reached out to the Turkish Coast Guard at 15:45h CEST who said they were already informed about this boat and launched a search operation.

At 16:14h CEST we also called again JRCC Pireus. They repeated again that they led a search operation but didn't find the people in distress and that this operation is over and that they “are done with this case”.

Shortly afterwards relatives of the travellers reached out to us and informed us that the people are back in Turkey.

The Turkish Coast Guard published on their website about the case: The travellers were found the next morning at 8:20 CEST drifting in four life-rafts off the coast of MUĞLA/Datça. The Turkish Coast Guard found 104 people (47 from Palestine, 46 from Egypt, 11 from Syria, 3 Turkish citizens) on these rafts.

Some days later we finally managed to get in touch with one of the travellers who reported the following:

We were 110 people, among us 10 women and 5 children, refugees from from Palestine, Egypt and Syria, on the way from Turkey to Italy. In Greek waters we have been calling for help. Afterwards, we have been maltreated in a brutal and inhuman way. Our mobile phones and money got stolen. Two people were beaten up really badly. When it was dark, we were forced onto life rafts back in Turkish waters. In Turkey we were detained for one day and then freed.

The people did not want to speak more about the situation, because it made them feel too bad.

https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1539948806141345794

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