Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 06th of October 2015

Case name: 2015_10_06-AEG91
Situation: Attack on and push back of boat in distress north of the Greek island of Lesvos, rescued by Turkish authorities
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Tuesday the 6th of October 2015 the Alarm Phone witnessed an attack on a boat in distress near the Greek island of Lesvos that was subsequently pushed back into Turkish waters. Beyond that, we dealt with two emergency situations, in which one boat was rescued by the Turkish coastguard and one by the Greeks.

At 2.06pm a contact person sent us the coordinates and phone number of a boat in distress north of Lesvos, with 40 people on board (case 1). At 2.19am we learned that the boat had been attacked by another boat, probably of the Greek coastguard, which had stolen its engine and had pushed the boat back into Turkish territorial waters. At 3.30pm we learned that Turkish authorities had rescued the travellers, but we also received several videos and pictures documenting the push back. We tried to establish contact to the travellers and we will forward the details of the case to the Greek ministry to ask for further investigations and to human rights NGOs to follow-up the case.

At 9am the Facebook group 'Safe Refugee on their way to Europe' informed us about a boat in distress with 40 people on board, east of Lesvos (case 2). The group had already alerted the Greek and Turkish coastguard. At 9.20am we received new coordinates and learned, that the boat had begun to capsize. Although the Greek coastguard agreed to start a rescue operation, at 10.13am we were informed that the Turkish authorities had rescued the boat in distress.

In the afternoon, we received the phone number and coordinates of a boat in distress north of Lesvos (case 3). Although our informant lost contact to the boat, we learned later on that the Greek coastguard had rescued the boat.