25/12: 40 travellers brought back to Turkey

26.12.2017 / 10:39 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 26th of December 2017

Case name: 2017_12_25-AEG328
Situation: 40 travellers brought back to Turkey, arrested
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:


On Monday, 25th of December, at 11:31pm, we received information about a boat in distress in Greek waters close to Mytilene-City, carrying 40 passengers. We couldn’t establish contact to the boat. At 11:37pm we called the Greek Coast Guard in Piraeus and informed them about the boat. We also passed the GPS position we had received by the contact person. At 11:43pm we sent an Email to the relevant authorities to document the alert. We still couldn’t reach the boat, but the contact person informed us at 0:07am that a Coast Guard unit had reached the boat. At 0:17am the Greek Coast Guard called the Alarm Phone and stated the boat would be in Turkish Waters and the Turkish Coast Guard would already be at the position. We clarified that the GPS position was indeed in Greek waters and the Greek Coast Guard agreed to conduct a SAR operation. At 0:35am they called again and stated the boat would be 5 miles east of the given position and would be rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard. In the following we could not establish contact neither to the boat nor to the Turkish Coast Guard. At 2:20am the contact person confirmed that the travellers had been brought to Turkey.
Last update: 10:54 Jan 16, 2018
Credibility: UP DOWN 0
Layers »
  • 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

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