In dangerous manoeuvres against his vessel Coast Guard was made this morning by a Turkish patrol off the coast of Samos. According to the Coast Guard, the Turkish patrol boat tried to cause damage to the L.S.-EΛ.AKT. vessel, while at the same time made a demonstration of weaponry.
It all happened this morning when, during a search and rescue operation for migrants, a foreign-flagged cargo ship involved in the search found a body within Greek territorial waters and within the search and rescue area of responsibility of the Greek authorities and informed the Turkish patrol boat sailing within Turkish territorial waters to pick it up. The Turkish flotilla then entered Greek territorial waters and made dangerous manoeuvres.
During the process of recovery of the body by the coast guard and while the patrol boat of the L.S.-Hellenic Coast Guard approached the boat in order to point out that it has violated Greek territorial waters, the Turkish boat tried to cause damage to the L.S.-Hellenic Coast Guard boat.
In detail the announcement of the Coast Guard about the incident:
«Regarding the search and rescue operation of foreigners, which has been ongoing since yesterday, in the sea area 3.8 nm south of Samioupoula n. Samos, under the coordination of the Uniform Search and Rescue Coordination Centre of the L.S.-EL.AKT., it is known that the searches continue today by a L.S.-EL.AKT. patrol boat, L.S.-EL.AKT.
In the morning hours today, a foreign flagged vessel, which had been committed by the ESSED to participate in the search and rescue operation, located within the search and rescue area of the Greek authorities and within Greek territorial waters, one (01) body, informing a Turkish flotilla, which was sailing within Turkish territorial waters to pick it up.
Subsequently, a Turkish patrol boat, which was sailing in an adjacent area, entered the search and rescue area of the Greek authorities and within Greek territorial waters and made dangerous manoeuvres against the patrol boat of the L.S.-EL.AKT. During the process of recovering the body and while the L.S.-Hellenic Coast Guard patrol boat approached the patrol boat in order to point out that it had violated Greek territorial waters, the Turkish patrol boat tried to cause damage to the L.S.-Hellenic Coast Guard boat, while at the same time it demonstrated its weapons.
It should be noted that the above Turkish flotilla did not have any substantial assistance in the area for the search for missing persons at sea, nor did they report its presence to the coordinator of the operation ESSED.
It is noted that the movements of the Turkish shuttle were hampering the work of the Greek Coast Guard and the FRONTEX force as well as the progress of the search and rescue operation for missing persons.
This incident took place in the presence of an Italian FRONTEX vessel, whose crew recorded the incident in order to inform the FRONTEX Agency for its own further action.
Investigations are continuing and any developments will be reported in a further press release.»
