23/2: Two groups of travellers in distress arrived to the north of Lesvos

24.02.2019 / 17:51 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 23rd of February 2019
Case name: 2019_02_23-AEG488
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to two groups of travellers in distress. Both groups arrived on their own to the north of Lesvos.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Saturday 23rd of February the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by two groups of travellers in distress in the Aegean Sea. Despite bad weather, both boats managed to arrive safely on their own to the north of Lesvos, where a nine year old girl had lost her life just a few days earlier.

At 3.20am we were alerted to a group of around 50 people, including 20 children with the youngest of them being only two days old. The boat sent us their position, and at 4.02am we called the Greek coast guard and passed on the information we had. At 5.44am, after unsuccessfully having tried getting back in contact with the travellers, we called the Greek coast guard again, and they informed us that they were still searching for the boat but had not found anything so far. At 8am we spoke to the travellers again. Communication was difficult, but it sounded like they were no longer at sea. Only at 9.40am did we get a confirmation from the travellers that they landed safely on Lesvos.

At 5.19am another boat close to the first position we had received called us for help. We passed on the new information to the Greek coast guard. At 5.50am the travellers had arrived to the north of Lesvos, and this was afterwards confirmed by the travelers. They also told us that the authorities had arrived to where they were.
We learned afterwards that the two boats had carried together 112 people (65 children, 26 women, 21 men).
Last update: 18:49 Mar 05, 2019
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