19/09: 61 people from Lebanon in distress close to Greece and pushed back to Turkey

20.09.2022 / 11:02 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations –

Case name: 2022_19_09 - Eastern Med - 1010

Situation: 61 people, including women and children, who departed from North Lebanon, were in danger at sea near Crete and pushed back to Turkey

Status of WTM Investigation: close

Place of Incident: Eastern MedSummary of the Case:

On the morning of 19 September 2022, Alarm Phone was contacted about a boat in distress 45 nautical miles north of Crete, in the Greek SAR area, after its engine stopped working properly. We were told that the boat was carrying 53 people, including 5 children and had departed from Tripoli in Lebanon to reach Italy. Alarm Phone alerted JRCC Piraeus at 3 pm. For several hours, the officers of the Greek coastguard in JRCC Piraeus stated that a search operation was underway but stated they were unable to find the boat in the area or to contact it. It was only later that we lost contact with the boat. After multiple exchanges with family members as well as Turkish coast guards, we learned that the boat with 61 persons (so it was more people then we were initially alerted for) was pushed back by Greek authorities into Turkish waters and the people taken into custody in Izmir region. However, we were not able to verify what happened exactly to the people.

https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1572189944306696195

Last update: 17:46 Jul 07, 2024

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