07/05: 14 travellers attempt to cross Turkish-Greek land border, one dead person

08.05.2018 / 13:44 / Turkish-Greek land border

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 7th of Mai 2018

Case name: 2018_07_05-AEG385
Situation: 14 travellers attempt to cross Turkish-Greek land border, one dead person
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On Monday, 07th of May 2018, at 1:31pm, we were informed by a contact person about 14 people that had tried to cross Evros River from Turkey to Greece. One person had died in the attempt. The group was back in Turkey and requested Alarm Phone to contact the authorities to find the dead body. The travellers sent a GPS position of where the body was located. They also sent a picture of the ID card of the dead person.
At 1:55pm we called the local police in the nearest town Didymoteicho and passed the information. We also sent an e-mail to the police with the GPS position and the picture of the ID card.
At 3:44pm we called the police again, but we didn’t find out any news on the search. At 5:00pm we called again. We were informed that the location of the body was only accessible by boat due to severe floodings in the area. They would assemble a rescue team that would leave next morning by boat to find the body.
During the next days we contacted the police in Didymoteicho several times but couldn’t finally confirm the recovery of the body.

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