Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 2nd of November 2015

Case name: 2015_11_02-AEG117
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 3 boats in distress near Farmakonisi and Lesvos and 3 cases of travellers stranded on Kouneli and Farmakonisi/Greece and near Siğacik/Turkey
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Monday the 2nd of November 2015, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 6 cases of distress in the Aegean Sea - 3 cases at sea near the Greek islands Farmakonisi and Lesvos and 3 cases on land, as travellers had stranded on the Greek islands of Kouneli and Farmakonisi and near Siğacik, Turkey.

At 00:50am we received a call about a group of 20 persons, among them 10 children, who were stranded on a beach in Siğacik, Turkey, without food and water (case 1). We were told that they were unable to move away from the beach and were in need of assistance. We told the contact person that they should call 112. We first could not reach the group, but at 1:47am they finally replied to us via WhatsApp, saying that they had called 112, but that no one had answered their call. They also wrote that no one was injured, but that they could not walk anymore. We asked them, if they wanted us to call the local police, but did not hear back from them until the morning. At 8:24am they told us that they were trying to move away from the beach. We called the UNHCR, but could not reach them. At noon, the group had started moving and at 2pm they sent us a WhatsApp message, saying that they had reached Izmir and were going to the hospital.

At 2:15am, a contact person informed us about a boat carrying 38 persons in urgent distress between Didem, Turkey and Farmakonisi, Greece (case 2). He asked us to call the Turkish coastguard. We immediately tried to contact the coastguard, but they could not be reached - neither by phone, nor by WhatsApp. We thus contacted the central command in Ankara, who promised to forward the case to a local team. We also tried to get in touch with the travellers, but could not reach them. At 3:46am, the Ankara office of the Turkish coastguard confirmed that the rescue operation had started. Three hours later, we checked again with the coastguard and they told us that they had rescued 54 persons and had brought them to Didim. At 1pm our contact person confirmed that the group had been rescued by the Turkish coastguard and were back in Turkey now.

At 4:50 we received a call about a boat with 50 persons on board near Mytilini, Lesvos (case 3). The contact person told us that they were about to sink and that she had already informed the Greek coastguard, but she asked us for support, as the coastguard had told her not to call anymore. We sent an email about the case to the Greek coastguard and reached out to the travellers, who sent us updates about their position. Another person contacted us about the same case via Facebook. We told him that we were already in touch with the travellers. We could not talk to the group, but held the connection via WhatsApp until about 7am, when they did not answer anymore. At 7:40am we received messages via WhatsApp and via Facebook confirming that the travellers had been rescued.

At approximately 10am, a contact person from the group 'Save the Refugees' contacted us about a boat in distress carrying 38 persons north of Lesvos (Case 4). We reached out to the travellers, who were panicky and asked us to call the Turkish coastguard. We tried calling the Turkish coastguard on several numbers, but without success. We thus called the Greek coastguard, who confirmed that the boat was still in Turkish waters and who provided us with new contact numbers of the Turkish coastguard. However, also with the new numbers we could not reach the Turkish coastguard and thus asked the Greek coastguard to inform the Turkish coastguard about the case. At 10.35 the contact person who had first called us about the case passed us new coordinates, she held the contact with the travellers. At 10.45, we finally managed to reach the Turkish coastguard, who told us that they were already informed about the case, but that the boat had probably passed to the Greek side now. They still sent a boat to look for the travellers. The Save the refugees group then took over the communication between the travellers and the coastguard. At 1pm they informed us that the travellers had been saved by the Greek coastguard.

On Monday evening, notice reached us of three groups of travellers who had stranded on islands (Case 5). At 6pm we received an email about a group of 80 persons who had stranded on Farmakonisi in the night from Sunday to Monday and who reported to have been threatened and beaten by the military on the island. Supporters had already called for help and at least one part of the group had already been picked up from the beach.

At 11pm we were informed about a second group of 30 persons who had also stranded on Farmakonisi and at midnight about a third group of about 45 persons who had stranded on the Greek island of Kastellorizo, close to the Turkish coast. Both groups could not be reached. Shortly before midnight, we sent an email about the cases to the Greek coastguard. The next morning, from 7am onwards we tried to reach out to the travellers again and sent another e-mail to the Greek coastguard, as well as to the UNHCR. Until Tuesday afternoon we tried to follow up on the case, but neither the whereabouts nor the rescue of the travellers could be confirmed.

In the night from Monday to Tuesday, shortly before midnight, am member of the "Save the refugees group" called us and forwarded us the position of a group of travellers, who had stranded on the small Greek island of Kouneli (case 6). We informed the Greek coastguard about the case. The next morning, we managed to reach the travellers, but communication was difficult. We tried to call back, but could not reach them anymore. On Tuesday afternoon, their rescue was finally confirmed through a member of the Save the Refugees group.