17/06: 30 people picked up by Turkish Coast Guard in the presecne of the Hellenic Coast Guard

18.06.2022 / 16:51 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations –14th of June 2022

Case name: 2022_06_14-EasternMed914

Situation: 30 people in distress at the border between Turkish and Greek Rescue Zone, picked up by Turkish Coast Guard

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Tuesday the 14th of June 2022, the Alarmphone was alerted by a relative to a group of around 30 travellers, including 12 children, in distress at sea near the island of Samos, right on the border between Greek and Turkish rescue zone. We managed to reach the travellers who told us that they had no working engine, and were therefore left adrift. We immediately alerted the relevant search and rescue authorities to the distress situation. The Hellenic coastguard responded that they would “investigate the situation”. In the meantime, the travellers told us that a lot of water was entering their boat. In another call to the travellers, they told us that the Hellenic Coast Guard was on scene, but that they were not intervening, only taking photos. The Hellenic Coast Guard continued to claim that they were investigating. At 12.41 the Turkish coastguard confirmed to us on the phone that they had picked up the boat.

Tweets about the case:
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1536583897743511552
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1536681530780798976

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