18/12: 150 people travelling towards Italy – fate unclear

19.12.2020 / 09:37 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – December 18th 2020
Case name: 2020_12_18-AEG737
Situation: 150 people left Turkey for Italy, fate unclear
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary Case
In the early afternoon of December 18th, Alarm Phone was alerted to a boat carrying approximately 100-150 people who were fleeing Turkey intending to reach Italy. At 13.57h CET a relative of people on the boat called us to inform us of the case. The connection broke before they could relate a GPS position. The relative forwarded a GPS position shortly afterwards, which we forwarded to authorities at 14.15h CET via e-mail. At 16.00h CET authorities in Piraeus confirmed they had knowledge of the case but provided no further information. We continuously tried to establish contact to the boat in distress but remained unsuccessful for the remainder of the day. Throughout the evening we tried to reach port authorities and coast guards in Neapolis and Kythira, none of which answered our calls or provided any information on an ongoing rescue operation.

In the morning of December 19th the Greek coast guard confirmed a search for the boat on December 18th which had been stopped now since the boat had not been found. Still, we remained unable to reach the people on the boat. At 16.50h CET we e-mailed authorities to request an update on ongoing search missions but received no news of the boat. We remain unable to establish direct contact to the boat throughout December 20th.

Media reports suggest the boat might have arrived to Italy. We did not receive confirmation from relatives of people on the boat nor people on the boat directly.

Twitter Chronology

December 18th

18.05 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1339980139992657920

December 19th

12.52 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1340263644840534016

Last update: 10:04 Mar 16, 2021

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