22/07: one injured man at the landborder, potential pushback

23.07.2022 / 16:02 / Eastern Med

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

Case name: 2022_07_22 -Eastern Med-939

Situation: Unknown outcome for an injured man, alone near the Northern Greek Border

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Eastern Med: Northern Greece, Kehros

Summary of the Case: On the 22nd of July 2022 the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to a lone, injured traveller close to the land border in Northern Greece. The young man had a broken leg, had not eaten for four days, and asked for urgent help and medical attention. Alarm Phone alerted Greek authorities by email, and called the police stations at Sapes, Metaxodes, and Ariana, who could not give a clear answer whose jurisdiction the location was. Greek police informed Alarm Phone that multiple cars were sent to the location to look for the man, but that he was never found. The phone number of the young man stopped working, and Alarm Phone could not confirm what happened to him. It is suspected a pushback could have taken place.

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1550905587663355905
https://https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1551236742199517185

Last update: 19:27 Mar 19, 2023

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