The incident occurred yesterday around 09:00 hours off the coast of the Gençlik Neighborhood in the Muratpaşa district. According to information obtained, 19 young people studying at Akdeniz University came to Konyaaltı Beach early in the morning to do Stand Up Paddle (SUP) as a weekend activity. As the young people, who had completed their preparations, went out to sea, they began to drift offshore after a while due to the wind increasing in intensity. Faced with winds blowing at 31 knots per hour, the young people began to drift helplessly and, despite all their efforts, could not manage to return.
Teams rescued the 19 young people
Upon citizens at Konyaaltı Beach seeing the young people drifting and the young people reporting the situation to the 112 Emergency Call Center, boats from the Antalya Provincial Directorate of Security, Maritime Port Branch Directorate and the Coast Guard Group Command quickly moved to the given location. The teams took aboard the boats a total of 19 young people, 10 male and 9 female, who were doing SUP boards and were holding onto each other with their paddles approximately 2 miles offshore. Some of the young people, who were observed to have fallen into the water and gotten wet due to the strong wind or to have been very frightened, were helped to stay warm by the teams who gave them their own clothes to wear.
A report was filed and a penalty was applied to the young people and the company
The 19 young people, who were taken aboard the boats and brought to the Antalya Yacht Harbor, were offered hot drinks by the coast guard and maritime police. A report was filed and penal procedures were applied against the young people and the company that rented the SUPs, in accordance with the article in the Antalya Governorship’s Stand Up Paddle Board (SUP) directive dated June 30, 2025, which states: “Activities will be carried out by strictly observing the sea and weather conditions. Activities will not be carried out in sea and weather conditions above 3 on the Beaufort scale (7-12 knots / 12-19 km/h).” The young people’s personal belongings left at Konyaaltı Beach were retrieved and brought under the accompaniment of the police and coast guard, and the young people, after signing the reports filed against them, left the Yacht Harbor.
Rescued by her smartwatch’s emergency call
One of the young people, Büşra Ünlü, who was swept offshore while doing SUP boarding due to strong winds, stated that she went out to sea on her SUP board in the morning, saying, “There was some wind, but I didn’t think it could get so strong. My phone wasn’t with me either. When I went a bit further, the wind started to increase and intensify more and began to drag me offshore. At first, there was no one around me, I only saw one person. While I was saying to them, ‘Can you call the coast guard emergency?’, my smartwatch heard. And my watch said, ‘Of course, I’m calling the coast guard right now,’ and my watch made the call suddenly. I didn’t know it called independently.”
“We held onto each other and waited to be rescued”
Stating that after her smartwatch called the teams, she had a phone conversation via the watch with the duty officer and learned that more than 15 other people, like herself, were also being swept by the wind, Ünlü said, “I said I was offshore and that I was calling from my watch and asked for help. They asked if there were 15 more people and if I was one of them. I said I was alone, independently. About 20 minutes later, the Coast Guard came and rescued us. They saw me while I was being swept offshore. They raised their paddles. They said, ‘Are you scared, hold onto us.’ We got closer to each other and joined the boards together. With them, we started to wait for the Coast Guard and the Maritime Police.”
