20/3 Alarm Phone alerted to 3 emergency situation in the Aegean Sea, Pasas, Ro and Chios – two young girls died

21.03.2016 / 14:51 / Aegean Sea, Pasas, Ro and Chios

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 20th of March 2016

Case name: 2016_03_20-AEG238
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 3 emergency situations in the Aegean Sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Sunday the 20th of March 2016, our Alarm Phone shift teams were alerted to 3 emergency situations in the Aegean region. One group had stranded on Pasas Island and needed support. They were presumably later transferred to Chios Island. One vessel in distress in Turkish waters was found and rescued by the Turkish coastguards. Another group had nearly reached Ro Island when their vessel flipped over and the group had to swim ashore. The Greek coastguards later found and transferred the group but two young girls could not be rescued, they had passed away already.

At 1.46am, one of our activist allies informed us about a group that had stranded on Pasas island (case 1). We reached the group of 25 people, including 7 women and children, and they told us that they had already stranded on the island 2 days earlier and needed support. We received an image from them, showing them sitting around a camp fire. We informed the Chios Port Authority at 2.03am and they confirmed that they would send a rescue vessel in the morning around 8.30am in order to transfer them to Chios. Afterwards, we were unable to reach the group again. We called the Chios Port Authority again in the afternoon and they could not confirm whether this group in question had been transferred but they stated that they were constantly going back and forth between Pasas and Chios so that it is very likely that the group had been found.

At 4.35am, we received a WhatsApp message informing us about a group of 45 people, including about 10 children (case 2). They had been travelling to Ro Island and shortly before reaching it the boat had capsized. Following their account, 2 people had gone missing. When we talked to them on the phone they were clearly distressed and very anxious. We reached out to the Greek coastguards at 5.10am and they confirmed that they knew about this case and were working on it. At 5.25am we learned that the Greek coastguards were on their way to the location. At 6.01am we talked to the group on the island again and they said that two young girls had gone missing. They said they were still trying to find them in the water but all people were very cold as they had all fallen into the water. At 7.12am, the people stated that they had been detected by the Greek coastguards. We then were unable to stay in touch with them afterwards but we learned from an informant of ours that the two little girls that had fallen into the water, had died. Later on we also found newspaper articles that talked about this case and the death of the two girls (see source 1 and 2).

At around the same time as case 2, we were informed by an activist ally about a boat carrying about 40 people that had entered a situation of distress (case 3). Our contact person said that their engine had broken. He had already alerted the Turkish coastguards and said he was monitoring the situation and reach out to us if he needed support. Our contact person remained in touch with the travellers and sent us updates. At 7.33am he informed us that the people had been found and rescued by the Turkish coastguards.
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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