02/26: AEG 50 people close to Samothraki, Rescued by Turkish Coast Guard

27.02.2019 / 23:29 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 26th of February 2019
Case name: 2019_02_26-AEG489
Situation: AEG 50 people close to Samothraki, Rescued by Turkish Coast Guard
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: At 11.30pm CET, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to a case of a boat in distress of approximately 50 people, close to Samothraki. Although it was difficult to hear, the shift team discerned that there was water coming into the boat and bad weather. The travelers were difficult to reach but sent their positions. The shift team called the Greek Coast Guard and informed them of the situation. At 00.40am, the boat sent a new position, which the Greek Coast Guard claimed was in Turkish waters, so the shift team also called the Turkish Coast Guard. The Turkish Coast Guard reported back that they were aware of the situation and were already conducting a search and rescue operation. At 1.15am the shift team called the travelers to inform them of the situation; the traveler noted that he saw a big Coast Guard ship that had just arrived. Later on the shift team received confirmation from the Turkish Coast Guard that they had undertaken the rescue operations.

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