16/03 55 people in distress east of Lesvos, rescued to Greece

17.03.2018 / 09:58 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations - 16th of March 2018

Case name: 2018_03_16-AEG348
Situation: 55 people in distress east of Lesvos, rescued to Greece
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Friday, the 16th of March 2018 at 3.41am, a contact person informed the Alarm Phone about a boat in distress east of the Greek island of Lesvos, with 55 people on board, including 25 women and 20 children. He asked us to alert the Greek coastguard, which we did at 4am. We forwarded the boat's coordinates and were told that the coastguard on Lesvos will look for the boat in distress. At 4.15am, the contact person forwarded an updated GPS of the boat to us and informed us that its engine had run out of fuel. We forwarded both information to the Greek coastguard at 4.18am. At 4.43am, the coastguard called us back, informing us that they had found and rescued a boat in the area, and asking for confirmation that this was the boat we had alerted them to. We double-checked with our contact person, and he also confirmed that the travellers had indeed been rescued. We forwarded this information again to the Greek coastguard in Piraeus.

Last update: 21:01 Mar 19, 2018

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