31/03: 49 travellers rescued by the Greek coast guard and brought to Samos

01.04.2018 / 17:45 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 31st of March 2018

Case name: 2018_03_31-AEG359
Situation: 49 travellers rescued to Samos by the Greek coast guard
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Saurday the 31st of March, at 01.17am, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by a contact person to a group of between 40-50 travellers on their way to Samos, forwarding us their phone number and position. At 01.57am we called the Greek coast guard and passed on the information we had. When we called them back later, at 03.24am, to ask for news about the case, they informed us that they were monitoring the boat, which did not seem to be in distress, and which they therefore concluded did not need rescue. When we spoke to the Greek coast guard again around 5.28am, they did not have any new information about the case. We were not able to reach the travellers anymore, and therefore reached out to local NGOs, who informed us that several boats had arrived to Samos this morning, without being able to give more specific details. At midday we contacted the Greek coast guard again, and they confirmed that they had rescued 49 travellers close to the coast of Samos. At 2.41pm we reached the travellers, who confirmed that they had arrived safely in Greece.

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