Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 21st of November 2015

Case name: 2015_11_21-AEG136
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 4 groups in distress stranded on the Greek islands of Tilos, Strongyli, Ro and Kastellorizo; 1 boat in distress rescued by Turkish coastguard between Izmir/Turkey and Samos
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Saturday the 21st of November 2015 the Alarm Phone was in contact with 4 groups of travellers who had stranded on the Greek islands of Tilos, Strongyli, Ro and Kastellorizo. Due to bad weather conditions all four groups could only be rescued on the following day. Beyond that, the Alarm Phone was alerted to a boat in distress north-east of Samos, which was later rescued by the Turkish coastguard.

In the early morning of this day, at 3.25am, we were alerted to a boat in distress with 15 people on board close to Izmir/Turkey (case 1). We talked directly to the travellers and learned that their boat had started to sink. However, a couple of minutes later that wrote to us via WhatsApp that the Turkish coastguard had rescued them. At 3.50am we talked to them again and learned that they were safe.

In the early evening, at 7pm, we were called by a group of 45 travellers including 15 women and 10 children who had stranded on the Greek island of Tilos between Rhodes and Kos (case 2). They were able to see some lights in the distance and were walking towards them. We informed the UNHCR Greece about this group and tried to stay in contact with the travellers in the following hours, but they did not pick up our calls anymore. Only at the next morning, at 10am, we reached them again and they told us that they were fine.

At 9.30pm a contact person alerted us to a group of travellers who had stranded on the Greek island of Strongyli and provided us with their phone number (case 3). We reached them at 9.45pm and learned that they 25 people, including 6 women and 7 children and that they were suffering from coldness. We called the Greek coastguard’s rescue coordination centre in Piraeus and forwarded their position and phone number. The coastguard was already aware of the group. Beyond that, we also informed the Greek police and the UNHCR via mail. During the following night we stayed in contact with the group and also repeatedly called the Greek coastguard in Piraeus and on the neighbouring island of Kastellorizo in order to pressurize them to pick up the group. However, due to bad weather conditions, the coastguard was not able to go to the island during the night. From 5.30am onwards we were again in contact with the group. They had managed to come trough the night but in the morning it had started to rain and they urgently asked to be picked up. At 8am we reached the coastguard on Kastellorizo and they confirmed to us that a rescue vessel was on its way to the island of Strongyli. Afterwards we were not able to reach the group anymore, however, at 11am we learned from a contact person that they had been picked up.

In the same night the Alarm Phone also dealt with a group of about 15 travellers who had stranded on the deserted Greek island of Ro, which is also neighbouring Kastellorizo (case 4). As in the previous case we informed the Greek coastguard in Piraeus and on Kastellorizo and stayed in contact with the travellers during the night. The travellers were very much suffering during the cold night, especially as their cloths were wet and because there were also sick elderly people among them. However, in this case the rescue took even longer, as the coastguard was not immediately able to approach the island in the early morning, due to bad weather conditions. In the afternoon of the following day the travellers told us that they had been brought to another part of the island by military personnel but were still waiting for the coastguard. Only at 6pm we learned that they had been picked up from the island of Ro.

At 11.40pm we were alerted to a group of 5 people who were stuck at the rocky northern shore of the Greek island of Kastellorizo (case 5). Although we were not able to reach the travellers directly, we informed the port authorities on Kastellorizo at midnight. As in the previous cases, they were not able to reach out for the travellers during the night. However, at 8.15am on the following day the coastguard told us in a call that the 5 travellers had been picked up in the early morning and were fine.