13/12: Alarm Phone alerted to two boats, one arriving on its own to Lesvos, the other rescued by Turkish fishermen.

14.12.2018 / 01:12 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 13th of December 2018
Case name: 2018_12_13-AEG468
Situation: Two groups of travellers in distress in the Aegean, one rescued to Turkey, the other arrived to Lesvos on their own
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Thursday the 13th of December the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted to two boats in the Aegean sea. In both cases we were not able to reach the travellers, but we were in contact with both the Turkish and Greek coast guard and were in the end able to confirm that one boat had arrived to Lesvos on their own, whilst the others had been rescued by Turkish fishermen.
At 1.30am CET, a contact person informed us about a boat with 38 people, including 18 children, forwarding us an old position and the phone number on the boat. The contact person was not entirely sure whether the travellers had already been rescued and asked us to help confirm this. We were not able to reach the boat ourselves, and called both the Greek and Turkish coast guard, but neither of them could confirm the rescue of the boat. We stayed in contact with the coast guards, and they informed us that despite efforts from both the Greek and Turkish coast guard, they had not been able to find the boat. At 4.14pm the contact person told us that the people had arrived to the north of Lesvos on their own, and that they were now in the Moria camp.
At 5.50am we received information form a contact person about a boat in distress, forwarding us their phone number and a position from two hours earlier. We were not able to reach the travellers, but called the Greek and Turkish coast guard, who could, however, not confirm if this boat had been rescued. At 11am the Greek coast guard called us back, after they had searched the area of the last position without any success. At 1.14pm we reached the number of the travellers who told us that they had been rescued by Turkish fishermen and brought back to a Turkish port.
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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