Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 14th of December 2015

Case name: 2015_12_14-AEG157
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 14 distress cases in the Aegean,
1 Pushback at the Greek-Turkish land-border

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

Summary of the Cases: On Monday the 14th of December 2015 the Alarm Phone was alerted to a total of 14 distress cases in the Aegean Sea: In one case, we could document, but not prevent a pushback at the Greek-Turkish land border close to Lavara. We informed the Red Cross and the UNHCR about the group of travellers, who had crossed the border during the night and had spent the night hidden outside, despite being in urgent need of assistance, because they feared a pushback. When found by the police, they were arrested and brought back to Turkey, even though they had been on Greek territory.
In four cases on Monday, we were alerted to travellers stranded on several Greek islands (Kalolimnos, Kastellorizo, Farmakonisi and Strongyli). It was reported to us that the travellers on Kalolimnos had suffered from police violence, but neither their situation, nor their rescue could be confirmed. In the other cases, we could however ensure that the travellers arrived safe and sound: The group on Kastellorizo was picked up by the local police, the group on Farmakonisi was told that they would be transferred to Leros and stayed stuck on the military island and the group on Stronglyi were picked up by the Greek Coastguard. In the other cases of distress, in which we became active (close to Mytilene, Kos, and Chios), the travellers were rescued - in five cases by the Greek Coastguard/ Port authorities and in one case by the Turkish Coastguard.

Case 1: At 1:20am, we received a Facebook alert about a group of 13 travellers with 6 children, who had just crossed the Turkish-Greek land border close to Lavara, Greece. We were passed the GPS-position of the group, which was clearly at the Greek side of the border. They were suffering from the cold (it was about 2 degrees) and were without shelter for the night. But they were most of all afraid to be pushed back to Turkey. We could not establish direct contact with the group, but our contact person was in touch with them. They were too afraid of a pushback and did not want us to call the police, so we sent an E-mail to the UNHCR and the Red Cross listing the names, gender and ages of the travellers. The travellers were all from Iraq. Among the 6 children, there were two babies and two toddlers. We advised the travellers via the contact person to go to the Lavara, which was only about 3km away and asked them whether they wanted us to call the police, but the contact person told us that they were afraid of a pushback and preferred to wait until daylight. We tried to reach out to the group several times throughout the night to check with them on their situation, but could not reach them. At 2:18am a relative called us about the same case and told us that he was the brother of one of the travellers. He wanted us to call the Red Cross and the police. However, after checking with the travellers, they still decided, not to call the police and to wait until the morning when the UNHCR office would open. At 3.30am and 4:30am two more people contacted us about the same case and gave us an update about the group and especially the baby, which had a fever and was coughing. We also learned that the group was without any water and food. We sent another Email to the Red Cross and the UNHCR. We also tried to call the Red Cross (Greece), but no one picked up the phone. In the morning, between 7 and 8am, we tried reaching out to all contact persons and the travellers, but without success. At 8:27am we finally reached UNHCR and told them about the case. We agreed to call them back two hours later, but later we were unable to reach someone until the next day. The contact person, who had first informed us about the case, contacted us on Facebook at 4.30pm, telling us that he had lost contact with the travellers. Later, he told us that the travellers had been arrested by the police and transferred to Turkey. As the travellers had been on Greek territory this transfer clearly was a pushback. We forwarded all data, including the names and ages of the travellers and the exact times and coordinates to human rights organisations in Greece and Turkey for further investigations.

Case 2: At 5:03am we were contacted about a case of travellers stranded on Kastellorizo island. We immediately reached out to the travellers, who told us that they were 27 persons and that they were lost. They sent us their coordinates and told us that they were cold and stuck between rocks. At 5:49am we forwarded this information to the Kastellorizo Port Authority. The person on duty told us that the travellers could walk from the spot. We told her that the travellers were stuck, but agreed to call the travellers to ask them whether they saw any chance in could leave the place by themselves. The travellers said that they needed assistance, because among them were several elderly and children, who could not walk by themselves and who could not be carried because of the rocks. At 6am we called the Port Authority again. This time they promised to search for and pick up the travellers. However at 8:49am the travellers called us, because they had still not been picked up, but they were not in a situation of urgent distress. We nevertheless called the Port Authority again, who confirmed that a boat had already left to pick up the group. A few minutes later, at 9am the Port Authorities picked up the travellers, as the travellers confirmed to us.

Case 3: Between 6 and 7am, we received various call about a boat in distress in Turkish waters, between Bodrum and Kos, carrying about 60 persons. One of the contact persons said that their engine was not working. At 7:44, the travellers asked us to call the Turkish coastguard, which we did. At 8:52 the travellers confirmed their rescue.

Case 4: At 9:36am we received a WhatsApp message about a boat with 45 travellers, who had sent their position at 7:55am (close to Mytilene), but had since not been reachable. We informed the Greek coastguard about the case, who said that they had boats patrolling in the area and that they would look for the boat. Later the day the contact person confirmed the arrival of this group on Lesvos.

Case 5: At 9:16pm we received a Facebook message about 40 travellers stranded on Kalolimnos island, without food and water. We could not reach the group, because the telephones were switched off, but passed on their position to the authorities on Kalolimnos. They promised to search and rescue the travellers. Just a few minutes later, we received a WhatsApp message from a contact person with an American number, saying that the stranded travellers had been mistreated by police forces on the island. Despite several attempts, we could not reach the travellers and could not confirm their rescue.

Case 6, 7, and 8: On Sunday evening between 9 and 11 pm, we received several alerts concerning boats in distress near Chios. The first Chios alert reached us at half past nine and concerned a boat with 42 travellers on board, who were in distress, because their engine was broken. We called the Coastguard in Chios immediately and gave them the coordinates of the boat in distress. We could not reach the boat, but at 11:40pm we received a confirmation with a picture of the rescue and safe arrival of all travellers. Around 10pm, another alert reached us about 28 travellers on a dinghy boat, which also had a broken engine. We were told that water was coming into the boat. We could not reach the travellers, but informed the Port Authorities on Chios again. They promised to take care of the case. However, we had to wait until the next day at 7am to have the final rescue of the travellers confirmed. The third alert reached us at half past ten: 25 travellers were in urgent distress near Chios. Again we informed the Port Authorities who were not delighted about our many calls, but who again took care of the case. At quarter to one on Tuesday morning, the rescue of the 25 travellers to Chios was confirmed.

On Monday, we were alerted to 6 other cases, which either turned out to be no distress situations at all or to be cases, in which we did not have to intervene. At 3:45am we received a WhatsApp message with two numbers and coordinates, which we located in Turkey. We called one of the numbers and learned that they were about 45 persons. They had been on a boat for about 55 minutes and were told that had reached Greece, but were actually still in Turkey. We did not become active in this case. Later on Monday morning, we were alerted to a case, in which a boat heading to Agathonisi was intercepted by the Turkish coastguards and was brought back to Turkey. In another case, a boat going into the direction of Chios was picked up by the Greek coastguard and brought safely to Chios. Also on Monday morning, several persons contacted us about a boat with 35 travellers north of Lesvos, who had a problem with their engine. They called the coastguard themselves and were rescued to Turkey, as they confirmed to us at about 5pm. On Monday night, at half past 10pm, we received a Facebook message about a boat in distress. When we reached the travellers two hours later, they had made it to Farmakonisi. They were about 44 persons, but told us that they were more than 150 travellers on the island. They were confident that they would be transferred to Leros within the next days. The last alert of the day reached us at quarter to 11pm: A group of about 70 travellers were in distress near Stronglyi island. They were rescued by the Greek coastguard.