25/08: Group of 85 in distress near Zante Island, Greece

26.08.2022 / 11:53 / Eastern Med

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

Case name: 2022_08_25-Eastern Med_979

Situation: Group of 85 in distress near Zante Island, rescued by Merchant Vessel to Kalamata port Greece

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Eastern Med

Summary of the Case:

In the night of the 25th of August 2022, Alarm Phone was alerted to a group of 85 people including many women and children in distress near Zante island in the Ionian sea. The caller related that the engine was broken and the travellers adrift with little food and water. We immediately alerted the Greek authorities at 01:02. Then we managed to establish direct contact to the boat who relayed that they were in a very bad situation and needed help. We stayed in contact with the boat and continued to update the Greek coastguard urging them to rescue the group in distress. The next day at 19:15 we received confirmation that the boat was being rescued by a merchant vessel, who disembarked them at the port of Kalamata in Greece.

Twitter/news link: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1563065255067979776?s=20&t=VrzwBCCkgP1-wTT6RBc8pQ

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