03/09: 28 people stuck in the forest near the village of Kissari

04.09.2022 / 16:28 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 3rd of September 2022
Case name: 2022_09_03-Evros - 992* Situation:Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Eastern Med - Evros

Summary of the Case:
In the night of the 3rd of September, relatives informed us about a group of 27 people who were stuck in the forest in the Evros region, near the village of Kissari. At 03:46 CEST we inform all regional authorities by mail about the distress situation. We send a list with the names of the people and underline that they intend to seek asylum in Greece and are in need of international protection. Throughout the night and the morning, we call the border guard stations in Soufli and Didimoticho – neither were able to give any information about the group. Later in the day a relative informs us that there were actually two groups: one consisting of 28 and another one of 20 travellers. The group of 28 people was reportedly found by authorities , the group of 20 was reported missing. We could not get any more details on their whereabouts.
As neither we nor the relatives can reach the group, we decide to close the case with an unknown outcome. Days later, the relative informs us that the people were pushed back onto a small islet on the Evros river, which means that another illegal pushback took place.

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