28/08/22: Eight people pushed back after arrival on Farmakonisi

29.08.2022 / 09:56 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 28th of August 2022

Case name: 2022_08_28-Eastern Med - 983

Situation: Eight people pushed back after arrival on Farmakonisi

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:
In the very early morning hours of 28th of August the Alarm Phone was alerted by relatives about 8 refugees from Palestine. They were stranded on the Greek island of Farmakonisi. We managed to get in touch with the people directly who reported to us that they were 8 people, among them two minors and a child who had cancer and was in urgent need of medical treatment. They also sent us photos of their passports.

At 4:06 CEST we alerted Greek authorities by email about the case, including a list of names and their wish to apply for asylum.

After 7:07 CEST we lost contact with the people.

In a phone call at 7:09 CEST to JRCC Piraeus they confirm that the people are on land and so the border authorities would take care for them.

In the later morning a lawyer from Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) took over the representation of the people and contacted Leros, which is the responsible authority for Farmakonisi. Leros finally stated towards the lawyer that they were unable to find the people in the position we provided to them.

We could not get in touch again with the group throughout the whole day.

Also the next day Leros port authorities denied that they have found anybody on Farmakonisi. They stated that also the army searched the area and was unable to find the group. At 9:15 CEST at 29 August we called the Turkish Coast Guard because we feared that the group was pushed back. The Turkish Coast Guard confirmed a rescue which might fit to our description of the group. The Turkish Coastguard stated to have rescued a group of 9 Palestinians from a life raft off the Coast of MUĞLA/Datça at 00.25h at 29 August.

We could never re-establish contact with the people and so we don’t know how they survived this pushback with the minor with cancer.

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1563822936229806082

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