Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 4th of December 2015

Case name: 2015_12_04-AEG147
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 6 distress cases in the Aegean Sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Friday the 4th of December 2015, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 6 emergency situations in the Aegean region. We dealt with 5 distress situations in Greek waters and we received the confirmation that all of these groups were rescued by the Greek coastguards. We also received several distress calls concerning one large group that had stranded on Farmakonisi Island. The Greek authorities as well as several activist networks were informed about this case.

Only minutes after midnight, our shift team was informed by a Syrian activist about a vessel carrying about 60 people that was trying to reach Chios Island (case 1). We were told that the sea was rough and that the travellers’ engine had broken down. We contacted the travellers at 00:10am and they told us that they were in fact 70 people, including many children, and the engine was functioning ‘so so’. The Greek coastguards promised to look into the case when we contacted them at 00:20am. Our initial informant told us at 00:55am that the group had been found and rescued by the Greek coastguards.

At 1.40am we received a distress case via Facebook (case 2). A contact person informed us about a group of people on a vessel moving toward Chios, seemingly in distress due to high waves and panic amongst the travellers. At 2.30am, after repeatedly but unsuccessfully trying to reach the travellers directly, we alerted the Greek coastguards. At 3.40am we received an update from our initial contact person who informed us that the group of about 40 people had been rescued by Greek authorities.

At 4.08am we received a distress call directly from a vessel that was carrying about 40-45 people (case 3). When we informed the Greek coastguards at 4.15am they told us that the vessel was still in Turkish waters so that we should get in touch with the Turkish coastguards. Instead of following their advice we spoke to one of the travellers who told us to wait a little as they were still moving toward Greek territory. At 4.38am we received an updated position from her which showed them clearly in Greek waters which we immediately passed on to the Greek coastguards. We then informed the travellers that the Greek coastguards would send out a rescue vessel. The group frequently contacted us but then, for several hours, their rescue could not be confirmed. Finally at 2.50pm, we received a message from the group that they were safe. They were worried about their ongoing journey and the border in Macedonia as this particular traveller was from Iran.

At 8am we learned about another distress situation, this time concerning a group of about 44 people, including many children and women, close to Lesvos (case 4). We called the local Greek coastguards and passed on with details of the case. We were unable to obtain any further information about this case but it seems likely that they were rescued by the Greek coastguards.

At around the same time we were contacted by a group on a vessel that was still in Turkish waters (case 5). They asked us to not inform the Turkish coastguards as they were still moving toward Chios Island. At 8.30am we contacted the Greek coastguards with an updated GPS position. At 9.20am the travellers informed us via WhatsApp that they had been rescued.

At 1.30pm we were alerted to a large group that had stranded on the Greek island of Farmakonisi (case 6). They had run out of food and we were also told that the Greek military present there was treating them badly. Several contact persons alerted us to the same situation. We informed the Port Authority of Leros Island who confirmed that they would send out a rescue vessel, however, only the next morning. We informed the activist network Leros Aid Group which then informed us that there were 5 pregnant women on the island, with one of them feeling unwell, and that everyone was suffering from the cold. They also said that the pregnant women were looked after. At 3.40pm we spoke to the Greek coastguards who confirmed that they would alert the military personnel on Farmakonisi. The Hellenic coastguards later on also confirmed that there was a doctor on the island. On the following day we contacted the police on Leros and were told that they were expecting that a large group was in the process of being transferred off Farmakonisi and would soon arrive. At noon they stated that 50 people had been successfully moved to Leros and at around 6pm we learned that more people had been transferred.