15/06: Boat headed to Mytilene, probably intercepted and brought back to Turkey

16.06.2017 / 13:57 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 15th of June 2017

Case name: 2017_06_15-AEG287
Situation: Boat headed to Mytilene, probably intercepted and brought back to Turkey
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Thursday the 15th of June 2017 at 7.50am we were informed of a boat in the Aegean Sea that had left Turkey at 5.30am. Our contact person told us that some persons had refused to enter the boat, as it was overcrowded.
From the starting point we figured out that the boat was probably headed to the South of Mytilene. We then called ERCI a search and rescue organisation that is active at the beaches south of Mytilene-airport. They had not heard of any arrivals in the morning. At 9:51am ERCI informed us via WhatsApp that the Turkish Coastguard had intercepted a big rubber boat with 130 persons. We passed on this information to the contact person, who said that we could close the case. Unfortunately, we could not confirm with the travellers, whether the intercepted boat was the boat we had been alerted to.
In the statistics of the Turkish Coastguard we can find for that day two boats that have been brought back to Turkey. One from Foça with 50 persons, one from Çeşme with 76 persons.

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