05/09: 85 people in distress near the Greek island of Folegandros

06.09.2021 / 20:13 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 24th of October 2019

Case name: 20191024-AEG819

Situation: 30 travellers rescued by Turkish police near Foca.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On the 5th of September at 10:32 CEST we were informed about a boat with 85 people on their way from Turkey to Italy, their engine was broken and they were near the rocky shore of the Greek island Folegandros. At 10:36 CEST we established contact with the people on the boat, they said "help, help" but we couldn't communicate further as we didn't have a common language. While trying to find translation, we forwarded the information immediately to the Coastguard in Piraeus. Until 22:55 CEST we didn't get further information from the Coastguard nor could we reach the people on the boat. At 22:55 CEST the relative forwarded us an article which states that 80 people were rescued near Folegandros, we assumed it were the same people we were searching for.

On the 11th of September one person from the boat told us, they arrived back in Turkey. He desribed that the Greeks came in a big military boat. They took the people. The people were on this ship for more than a day. Sometime in the evening the Greeks switched off the lights of their ship and put the people in the water on the floating tents. It all happens in the dark. The people on the boat told us: "We were exposed to death". Then the Turks came and saved the people. So another pushback took place.

twitter:

https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1434545049652576257

Last update: 20:19 Oct 18, 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