23/04: 55 travellers rescued by the Turkish coast guard

24.04.2018 / 11:36 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 23rd of April 2018

Case name: 2018_04_23-AEG378
Situation: 55 travellers in urgent distress, rescued by the Turkish coast guard
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Monday the 23rd of April, at 11.37pm, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a contact person to a group of 55 travellers, forwarding us their phone number and position. The position showed that the travellers were still in Turkish waters, close to the Turkish coast. We called the travellers who told us that the situation was very urgent and asked us to call the Turkish coast guard. At 11.57pm we reached the Turkish coast guard and passed on the information we had. At 00.21am we spoke to the travellers again. They informed us that there was a helicopter above them, and they had been told that the coast guard would be there in 15 minutes. The situation was getting still more urgent. At 00.34am we got a confirmation that the coast guard had arrived, and at 00.44am the travellers told us that they had all been rescued. The following morning at 9.40am we spoke to the travellers again. They were still with the coast guard, but confirmed that they were all safe.

Last update: 19:55 May 01, 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