27/03: 15 travellers at the land border returned to Turkey

28.03.2018 / 17:20 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 27th of March 2018

Case name: 2018_03_27-AEG354
Situation: 15 travellers stuck at the Evros river, returned to Turkey
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Tuesday the 27th of March, at 3.42pm, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a contact person to a group of 15 travellers stuck at the Evros river. The contact person forwarded us a number, and a position on land, at the Turkish side of the river. They told us that a part of this group tried to cross the river and got stuck on a small island in the river. 20 minutes later we received a different position from the contact person, this time showing the position of the travellers on the Greek side, in the river. We were not able to establish direct contact to the travellers. At 4.49pm we reached Soufli Regional Centre for Integrated Border Management and Immigrantion and passed on the information we had. We also forwarded the information to UNHCR by email. At 5.46pm the contact person told us that the travellers had been rescued by the Turkish police, and this was shortly after confirmed by the authorities in Soufli. We could not get in touch with the travelers themselves to get a final confirmation from them.

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