01/05/2024: 45 people rescued by merchant vessel and brought to Crete by Hellenic Coast Guard

02.05.2024 / 14:19 / Eastern Med

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 1st of May 2024
Case name: 2024_05_01-Eastern Med - 172
Situation: 45 people rescued by merchant vessel and brought to Crete by Hellenic Coast Guard
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Eastern Med

Summary of the Case:
Late in the evening of the 1st of May, Alarm Phone received an alert from 45 people on a boat in distress near Crete. They reported that there were sick people on board, with many vomitting, and some with blood in their vomit. They were very stressed and were urgently asking for help. The Hellenic Coast Guard said on the phone that they knew about the boat and were looking for them. At 23:54 CEST the people reported that a big vessel was near them, which was shining a bright light on their boat. Shortly after, JRCC Piraeus confirmed on the phone that they had found and rescued the boat.
We later learned through an article in local media that a merchant vessel had rescued the group and then later handed them over to the Hellenic Coast Guard. The Hellenic Coast Guard informed us that all the people were safe. We could not re-establish contact with the group to confirm this.

Twitter: https://x.com/alarm_phone/status/1785982549996576962

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