Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 12th of December 2019

Case name: 2019_12_12-AEG635
Situation: 45 travelers standed on Oinousses; two travelers stranded on Nimos; 10 travelers in distress close to Kos; all people rescued to Greece.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases:
On 12 December our shift team was alerted to three different cases in the Aegean Sea:
In the first alert a group of about 45 travellers was stranded on Oinousses island. At 1:52am CET we informed Chios port authority. At 2:50am the Greek coastguard confirmed they found the people, and all were okay.
In the second alert two men had stranded on Nimos, they were soaked and freezing because they had fallen into the water when landing. At 04:30pm CET we informed the Greek coastguard who already knew about the case. When the coastguard’s boat appeared, the travellers got afraid, because they feared a push-back to Turkey. After some communication with both sides, the travellers calmed down and they were finally rescued to Simi around 06:00pm.
The third alert came from a boat with 10 travellers near to Kos island via a relative of someone on the boat. At 10:48pm CET we informed the Greek coastguard and at 11:26pm the relative confirmed that he had spoken to the people and they had been rescued.

Case 1:
At 01:38am CET the Alarm Phone was contacted by a group of 45 travelers who had stranded on a small island of Oinousses, among them women and children. They reported to feel cold and needed drinking water. They were lost on the island and sent us their GPS location. At 01:52am we passed all the information to the port authority of Chios island who stated to start the rescue of the people immediately. At 01:58am we called back the travelers and informed them that their rescue was launched and advised them not to move too much to make it easier to be found. At 02:50am the Greek Coastguard confirmed at our request that they had found the group and all 45 people were safe.

Case 2:
At 04:18pm CET our shift team was contacted by two travelers stranded on Nimos island. They had fallen into the water when landing on the island two hours ago and were soaked and freezing and lost on the island. When we told them that we could inform the Greek Coastguard, they stressed their intention to go to Greece and not to be brought back to Turkey, which had happened to them several times before. At 04:30pm we informed the Greek Coastguard via phone call and passed them the location and phone number of the travelers. They said the port authority of Simi island was already coordinating the rescue. At 04:39pm we informed the two travelers about this, who still feared to be brought back to Turkey. At 04:45pm we called the port authority of Simi and learned that they had sent a boat and the two stranded had refused to enter it. At 04:50pm the travelers confirmed this. They did not trust in the Coastguard. At 04:59pm they reported that they had changed their mind and decided to enter the boat of the Greek Coastguard. At 06:00pm we called the port authority of Simi who confirmed that the travelers had been rescued and brought to Simi.

Case 3:
At 10:44pm CET we were alerted by a relative of a person in a group of 10 travelers close to Kos island. Their engine was not working properly, and water had started entering the boat. At 10:48pm we informed the Greek Coastguard and passed them the GPS location of the travelers. They confirmed to sent out a rescue vessel. At 11:26pm the relative confirmed their rescue to Kos.