Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 23rd of November 2015

Case name: 2015_11_23-AEG137
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 4 cases of distress at sea close to Lesvos and 2 cases of travellers stranded on Samos and Agathonisi

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Monday the 23rd of November 2015 the Alarm Phone was alerted to 4 distress cases. In two cases, travellers had stranded on Greek islands (Samos and Agathonisi) and in the other two cases, they had problems with their boats' engine. In the two distress cases at sea, the travellers were picked up by the Greek Coastguard and brought to Lesvos. In the other two cases, we could not obtain a final confirmation about the whereabouts and the wellbeing of the travellers.

At 4:23am we received a WhatsApp message from a contact person about a case of a group of 21 travellers stranded on Samos. They were trapped on a beach surrounded by rocks and had many children and ill persons among them, so that they could not move (case1). We reached out to the group who told us that they were in urgent need of assistance. We told them to call 112, but they had little battery left. We tried to get in touch with the port authorities via phone and e-mail, but no one responded. At 4:41am we sent a WhatsApp message to the stranded travellers, which they did not see, as their phone had apparently run out of battery. Around 8am we contacted the Greek Coastguard about the case and finally talked to the port authorities, who promised to search for the group. Throughout the morning we kept calling the authorities, who started a search operation, but had difficulties encountering the group. The travellers' phone remained switched off. At 2:30pm the police told us that they had reached the spot of the group, but had not encountered them. They assumed that the group had found a way out of the beach themselves. He said that there was a possibility to leave the beach by foot and that the surroundings were not really dangerous. Unfortunately, we could not obtain a final confirmation from the travellers that they had made it to a safe place.

At 11am a Facebook solidarity group alerted us to a distress case close to Lesvos (case 2). We also talked to the travellers directly, but the communication was difficult, as there was much noise in the background. A few minutes later, the contact person informed us that the Greek coastguard had already arrived and rescued the group, which was confirmed by the travellers, who sent us pictures of their rescue later in the afternoon.

Shortly after 1pm, a contact person informed us via Facebook about a boat in distress, because their engine had stopped working (case3). We reached out to them and they provided us with their position - they were heading towards Lesvos. We thus called the Greek coastguard, who told us to call the Turkish coastguards, as they located the boat in Turkish waters on their maps. We tried to call the travellers again, but they did not respond. At 1:50pm we called the coastguard on Lesvos and provided them with the latest coordinates, which our contact person had forwarded to us. At 3pm another contact person sent us a WhatsApp message about the same case, providing us with a new number and telling us that they were 55 persons on board and had no fuel left. We called the Greek coastguard again to forward this information, but they explained that one of their boats had just reached the travellers and that the rescue operation had already started. At 4:40pm one of the contact persons confirmed that the travellers had been rescued and brought to Lesvos.

On Monday evening, at 10.30pm two contact persons forwarded us information about a group of 19 travellers, mostly women and children, who had stranded on Agathonisi. They were without orientation and lacked the energy to move away from the beach. We could not reach the local port authorities, but reached - one hour later, the local police. They were already informed about the case and told us that they would rescue the group the following day at 8am. We provided the police with the contact number of the travellers. Around midnight, part of the group wanted to move away from the beach, but they ended up staying, making bonfires to stay warm. We did not receive a final confirmation of their rescue