17/09: 35 travellers rescued by the Turkish Coastguard and one boat landed on the North of Lesvos

18.09.2019 / 13:09 / Aegean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 17th of September 2019
Case name: 2019_09_17-AEG575
Situation: 35 travellers rescued by the Turkish Coastguard close to Orak odasi Foça and one boat landed on the North of Lesvos.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Tuesday the 17th of September we were alerted to two boats in distress; the first boat was rescued by the Turkish Coastguard and the second boat landed on the North of Lesvos.

At 12.33 am CEST of Tuesday the 17th of September we got in contact with a boat carrying 35 travellers that had crushed with a rock near Orak odasi Foça.
The boat was leaking and the travellers needed urgent assistance. Ten minutes later they sent us their GPS coordinates which we then forwarded to the Turkish Coastguard. At 1.57 am the travellers informed us that they had been rescued.

At 9.19 pm we were alerted to another boat in distress north of Lesvos island. Our shift team called the Greek Coastguard that informed us that they had just received the information that a boat had landed at the north of Lesvos. At 11.30 pm we receive confirmation from the travellers that they were all safe in a UNHCR camp.

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