Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 24th of December 2015

Case name: 2015_12_24-AEG166
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 7 distress cases in the Aegean Sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Thursday the 24th of December 2015, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 7 distress situations in the Aegean region. Three vessels in distress were rescued by the Turkish coastguards and their passengers were returned to Turkey. One group made it to Lesvos independently while another group was rescued near the island by the Greek coastguards. One group stranded on Pasas and was found by the Greek coastguards. One vessel near Lesvos capsized and while the Greek coastguards were able to rescue 21 people, 20 lives were lost.

At 00.36am we were alerted by a contact person to a distress case near Farmakonisi (case 1). The vessel carrying 40 people, including 20 children, was still in Turkish territory and at 00.40am we alerted the Turkish coastguards which noted down the details and confirmed that they would send out a rescue vessel. At 2.15am our contact person confirmed the rescue of the group by Turkish coastguards.

At 1.09am, a Syrian activist forwarded a distress call to our shift team, concerning a group of about 50 people who were on a vessel moving towards Lesvos (case 2). We reached the travellers at 1.11am and it was clear that they needed help urgently. As they were in Turkish waters we notified the Turkish coastguards and they confirmed that they would send out a rescue vessel. At 2.30am our initial contact person confirmed that they had been rescued by the Turkish coastguards.

Shortly afterwards another distress call reached us – this time concerning 30 or more people who were also seeking to reach Lesvos (case 3). Their vessel was very close to the one of case 2 and when our contact person said that the vessel was capsizing we contacted the Turkish coastguards again. They said that they had several emergency situations in that area of the sea and would search for all vessels. We tried to reach the travellers several times in the following hours but their phones were off. When we spoke to the Turkish coastguards at 2pm, they stated that this might be one of the vessels that had capsized, costing at least 20 lives while 21 people could be rescued, with no one missing (see also the news report, source 1). Throughout the day we were trying to verify whether or not this capsized vessel was the one we had been alerted to. The travellers themselves could not be reached. Our initial contact person passed on several mobile phone numbers of the travellers so that we could forward them to the coastguards in order to see whether they had been contacted through them. In several conversations with the Turkish coastguards after 3pm they informed us that could confirm that the vessel in question was the one that had capsized. We passed these sad news on to our contact person.

At 2.30pm our shift team was contacted via Facebook and informed about a group that had stranded on the island of Pasas/Greece (case 4). When the travellers’ phone was off, we called the responsible authorities on Chios Island and they confirmed that they would send out a rescue vessel in the morning. For many hours afterwards we were unable to contact the group. Only the day after, at 11.15am, one of them called us and confirmed that they were safe and well.

At 9.44am we received an emergency call from a vessel on its way to Lesvos Island, carrying 45-50 people, including children (case 5). They were in clear distress stating that water was in the vessel already and that they needed urgent help. Communications were difficult and the connection could not be re-established for a while. At 10.06am an informant told us that he had learned that the engine on the vessel was broken. We contacted the Greek coastguards and forwarded the information which we had gathered. Soon afterwards our contact person informed us that the engine was working again. They said: "Excuse me, the engine has started. The mood is good! We are moving." We passed this information on to the Greek coastguards and they cancelled their rescue operation. We received pictures from the boat and regular updates about their position so that we could see that they were moving closer to Lesvos. Around noon they confirmed that they had arrived.

At 11.23pm, our shift team was alerted to a group of 140 people on a vessel moving toward Lesvos (case 6). They had problems with their engine and when we reached one of the travellers at 11.37pm, he said that we needed to alert any rescue agency as they were in serious danger. He confirmed that we should call the Turkish coastguards which was the responsible agency due to their position in Turkish waters. The Turkish coastguards confirmed that they had received several calls concerning this vessel and had sent out a rescue vessel which would reach them in about 30 minutes. Our initial contact person, shortly after midnight, confirmed that they had been rescued.

At 11.56pm an informant sent us a screenshot with a position of a vessel in distress near Lesvos (case 7). Shortly afterwards we also received the exact coordinates and the information that at least three children were amongst the travellers. We informed the Greek coastguards about the case and they promised to look into it. At 1.13am the Greek coastguards stated that they had 15 vessels in distress near Lesvos – all of which had been rescued. The next day at 1.30pm the informed confirmed that the travellers were in Greece and safe.