27/03: Boat in distress close to Denizköy/Turkey, rescued

28.03.2016 / 16:44 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 27th of March 2016

Case name: 2016_03_27-AEG241
Situation: Boat in distress close to Denizköy/Turkey, rescued
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Sunday the 27th of March 2016 at around midnight, the Alarm Phone was informed about a boat in distress in front of the Turkish town Denizköy, east of the Greek island of Lesvos. We were told that the boat’s engine had stopped working, with 40 people on board. We tried to speak to the travellers via phone, but did not reach them. Thus we called the Turkish coastguard at 0.09am and forwarded the position of the boat to them. At 0.17am, we also informed the coastguard via email. The coastguard promised to us that they would send a rescue vessel to the boat in distress as soon as possible. At 0.38am we forwarded this information to our initial contact and asked him to inform the travellers. At 0.41am the Turkish coastguard called us back and told us that they had rescued all travellers from the boat, and that no one went missing. Finally, at 1.18am, the contact person confirmed to us that the travellers had told him as well about their rescue.

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