01/12: One person in severe medical condition, another person found dead at the Turkish Bulgarian border on the Turkish side east of Kalkansöğüt

02.12.2022 / 16:42 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 1st of December 2022
Case name: 2022_12_01_Eastern Med_1074
Situation: One person in severe medical condition, another person found dead at the Turkish Bulgarian border on the Turkish side east of Kalkansöğüt
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Landborder Turkey-Bulgaria
Summary of the Case:

In the afternoon of 1st of December 2022 our shift team was alerted by relatives about a group of 4 people, one of them in serious medical conditions near the Bulgarian border on the Turkish side east of Kalkansöğüt.

At 16:02 CET we called the Turkish police to alert them to the people in need of medical assistance.

In our next call at 17:09 CET the officer forwarded us to the Erdine Coordination Centre and then again to the Gandarma police station. They said they are searching with police and an ambulance but did not yet reach them.

At 19:30 CET in another call the Turkish police confirmed that they found 2 ppl, one person in very bad health condition and the other one already deceased. There were only 2 people at the given position according to them.

Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the deceased. Our thoughts are also with the survivors. We will never forget.

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