09/11: 60 people in distress in the Ionian Sea, hauled towards coast by Greek coast guard

10.11.2020 / 19:36 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – November 9th 2020

Case name: 2020_11_09_AEG719

Situation: 60 people in distress near Zakynthos, their fate is unclear

Status of WTM Investigation: Ongoing

Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary

On Monday, November 9, the Alarm Phone was alerted to a distress case near the Greek island of Milos. A big sailing boat of about 22m was carrying approximately 60 people fleeing from Turkey towards Italy. The last known position, from 09:00 CET, was off the coast of the small Greek island of Antimilos (position: 36.825730, 24.231551). When we called the Greek Coast Guard at 10:15 CET, they informed us that they already knew about the boat and that they were trying to help. At 11:26 CET, we received and published a video showing a small boat of the Hellenic Coast Guard towing the sailing boat along the coast of the island. An expert from Forensic Architecture confirmed that the island in the background was Antimilos by matching it with resources available online. We asked the Hellenic Coast Guard where they were taking the travelers, but they refused to give any information. They simply repeated, “everything ok”. Since then, we have not been able to reestablish contact with the people from this boat. On November 13, however, the Turkish Coast Guard published news about the rescue of 70 people from a sailing boat off the coast from the province of Izmir (Seferihisar district). According to the information on the website the rescue was conducted on November 12 at 21:30 (prob. UTC+3). An additional picture published on the website shows details that match those in the video the Alarm Phone had received: a white mast, a blue roof tarp, yellow life jackets, and the clothing of the people on the sailing boat. It nevertheless beggars belief that the Hellenic Coast Guard would perform a highly dangerous tow-back of the sailing boat all the way to Turkish waters. We are still investigating what happened to the people.

Twitter Chronology

November 9th

10.34 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1325737631314026496

13.31 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1325776841848852481

17.48 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1325841666427793408

23.43 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1325931781716135936

November10th

12.48 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1326129436228538372

Last update: 18:41 Mar 22, 2021

Credibility:

-1

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