Alarm Phone alerted to 2 distress cases in the Aegean Sea near Lesvos and Samos

24.10.2015 / 16:55 / Aegean Sea near Lesvos and Samos

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 23rd of October 2015

Case name: 2015_10_23-AEG108
Situation: Alarm Phone working on 2 distress cases in the Aegean Sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Friday the 23rd of October 2015, the Alarm Phone was alerted to two emergency cases in the Aegean Sea.

We were alerted to the first distress situation at 1.20am when we received a call from someone who was in contact with people on a boat (case 1). Our informant told us that there were 80 people on board, including many women and children. She had already informed the Greek coastguard about this urgent case. When we reached one of the travellers directly at 1.30am he said that they were not at sea anymore but were back on Turkish mainland and needed help. We asked for updated coordinates which we then received shortly afterwards via WhatsApp. The man told us that one child had died and several people were in a bad medical condition. We were unable to verify the information about the child. They had already called the international emergency number 112 and were waiting for help. They did not want us to notify the police and said that they might try and wait until the morning and then attempt the border crossing once more.

At 6.46am, the same person who informed us about case 1 told us about a second case, this time between Turkey and Samos Island/Greece. She told us that there were 35 people on a boat and passed on one of their phone numbers. We tried to reach them but the communication was interrupted. Shortly afterwards, at 7.30am, our informant confirmed that they had safely reached Samos Island.
Credibility: UP DOWN 0
Layers »
  • 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