09/12: Close to Chios a group of 26 travellers were attacked by Hellenic coastguard and intercepted by Turkish coastguard

10.12.2020 / 11:01 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 9th of December 2020

Case name: 20201209-AEG731

Situation: Close to Chios the engine of a boat with 26 travellers was sabotaged and the gasoline stolen, the Turkish coastguard intercepted them afterwards

Status of WTM Investigation: concluded

Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On 9th of December 2020 in the early morning hours the Alarm Phone received a GPS position near Chios. The caller informed that what he assumed to be the Hellenic coastguard had sabotaged the engine and had stolen gasoline of the 26 travellers. The boat now was leaking air. The transferred telephone number of the travellers couldn't be reached. The shift team tried to call them to get a better overview about the situation before doing next steps but this wasn’t possible. Only at 07:18h the Alarm Phone could speak to the travellers. They said that 26 people now arrived in Turkey and were with the police. It was not clear where. They want not to speak on the phone anymore but write WA messages. They wrote that Hellenic coastguard had attacked them 500 meters close to Chios and then the Turkish coastguard came.

The Alarm Phone informed Multeci Der in Izmir about the case and closed it there.

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