Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigation – 25th of May 2015

Case name: 2015_05_25-AEG10
Situation: 43 people trying to reach Symi/Greece, intercepted in Turkish waters
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Between Turkish coast and Symi island

Summary of the Case: While public attention has focused on the ongoing crisis of migration in the Central Mediterranean Sea with the EU proposing cynical and dangerous military operations in Libyan territory, maritime border crossings in the Aegean Sea have reached an unprecedented level. On 25th and 26th of May, within merely two days, more than 1200 refugees were rescued near Greek islands. In one day alone, on Tuesday, more than 500 people reached the island of Lesvos. While they fortunately reached Greek territory, some were intercepted by Turkish forces and brought back to Turkey. The Alarm Phone was in direct contact with passengers on one of these intercepted vessels.

On Monday the 25th of May 2015, the Alarm Phone shift team was contacted in the morning by a person whose friends were in a situation of distress in the Aegean Sea. He passed on the mobile phone number of one of the passengers and the GPS position for their vessel. The shift team reached out to the passengers and learned that there were 43 people on board, amongst them many children. While communication was difficult due to an unstable phone connection, our shift team found out that they were mostly from Syria and trying to reach the Greek island of Symi and were already close. However, the engine of their vessel had broken and so they asked for urgent help.

The shift team then immediately called the Greek rescue service RSC Rhodes and they confirmed that they would send out a rescue vessel. The information is passed on to the passengers in distress as well as to the Hellenic Rescue Team. Shortly afterwards, contact to the passengers could not be established anymore. Besides the rescue agency, our shift team informed also the Greek UNHCR and the Greek Ministry of Public Order and Citizen Protection. The Hellenic Rescue Team confirmed to have received the information that they had then passed on to its members in Kos and RSC Rhodes stated that they had sent out a rescue vessel to search for the passengers. We reported back to our initial contact person and asked him to inform the Alarm Phone team in case he heard anything from the passengers. The shift team then spoke to operations manager of the Hellenic Rescue Team who also confirmed that a Greek patrol boat was still looking for the vessel in distress.

Around noon, our shift team received a message stating that the passengers had been intercepted and picked up by the Turkish coastguard. The shift team contacted the Symi port authority who stated that they knew about the Turkish operation and had seen it take place. Following their account the vessel was still located in Turkish and not Greek waters so they had left the Turkish forces carry out the operation as it was not their responsibility.

A day later, our shift team spoke to one of the passengers. He confirmed that the vessel of the Greek coastguard had approached their vessel but then stopped and did not move closer to them. Following his account, the vessel just stopped and waited. After a while, when the Turkish coastguard arrived and picked them up, the Greek coastguards approached them and seemed to watch the rescue operation taking place. The passenger reported that the Turkish coastguard enquired about their well-being and whether the Greek had pushed back their vessel. He stated that the Greeks had not approached them but only observed them from a distance. The passengers thought that they had already reached Greek territory and were disappointed to have been brought back to Turkey. However, our contact person said that due to the broken engine it would not have been possible to move on, ‘it was very bad luck’.

They were detained by the Turkish forces for about 13 hours and were released in the middle of the night. It was difficult as it was raining and they did not know where to go. He thanked the shift team and said that we would meet in Europe soon, ‘inshallah’.