25/08: Unclear Outcome for a Boat in Distress south of the Peloponnese

26.08.2022 / 11:48 / Eastern Med

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

Case name: 2022_08_25-Eastern Med_978

Situation: Unclear Outcome for a Boat in Distress south of the Peloponnese

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Eastern Med

Summary of the Case:

In the night from 24th to 25th of August the Alarm Phone was alerted by relatives and different organisations to a boat in distress carrying about 80 travellers. Most of them were Kurdish refugees from Iraq. The boat started 4-5 days ago in Turkey.

The location showed the group south of the Peloponnese, south-west of the coastal town Koroni. Different relatives said that the Hellenic Coast Guard is already on scene. We could not establish direct contact to the travellers but via the different relatives, we received photos and videos from the boat.

At 1:29 CEST we called the Hellenic Coast Guard in Piraeus to alert them about this case and told them that relatives reported to us that they are already with the people. However, the officer on duty just said: “we are investigating”. At 2:26 CEST we additionally sent an email.

Throughout the whole night we continued to receive calls by relatives and different people. At 4:56 CEST we received another location that showed the boat further south. We also forwarded this location by email to the Hellenic Coast Guard. After this, all people we were in contact with lost contact to the people on board.

After some days, we tried to get in touch with the group again to find out more about their development.

One of the relatives said the people were rescued to Greece and then brought to Kalamata. Some of them (mainly women and children) were reportedly brought to a camp in Korinthos.

However, others reported to have heard about a pushback to Turkey. But it was not possible to figure out if they were talking about another case a day before that ended in a long-distance pushback but took place in the same area.

As we never managed to establish direct contact with the travellers, we closed this case without being sure what happened to the people.

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