12/09: A group of 8 people pushed back from Samos to Turkey

13.09.2022 / 17:22 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 12th of September 2022
Case name: 2022_09_12-Eastern Med - 1002
Situation:  Pushback of 8 people, including a pregnant woman
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded Place of Incident: Eastern Med

Summary of the Case:
On the 12th of September 2022, we received an alert about 8 people (6 men and 2 women) stranded on Samos, between Livadaki and Petalides Beach. One of the woman was pregnant and had severe pain. At 14:15 CEST, we sent an email to all relevant authorities Greek authorities, including Frontex and also UNHCR and several NGOs.
At 19:30 CEST, Medicins Sans Frontières (MSF) confirmed that they had assisted a group in the same area of the location we mentioned. However, the group they had assisted were 7 people and there was no pregnant woman amongst them. According to MSF, no-one was reported missing.
The next day the people contacted us again, they told us they were back in Turkey. They reported to have been pushed back, beaten and their belongings stolen. We could not get in touch with them later again to get more details about this incident.
We believe there was probably two groups that had arrived in the same area. One group was found and assisted by MSF, and the other one pushed back. Unfortunately, however, we were unable to find out what exactly happened at that day.

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