Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 23rd of January 2016

Case name: 2016_01_23-AEG191
Situation: Alarm Phone involved in rescue of stranded travellers on Ro
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Saturday the 23rd of January 2016 the Alarm Phone was alerted to a group of travellers, whose boat had crashed against the rocky coast of the Greek island of Ro. We alerted the Greek coastguard and constantly stayed in contact with the travellers. Within one hour that had been picked up by the Greek coastguard and had been transferred to a bigger island.

At 5.20am a contact person informed the Alarm Phone about a rubber boat with 25 travellers on board, including 11 children, who had crashed against the rocky coast of the Greek island of Ro. We were provided with GPS coordinates and a phone number and were told that some people went overboard. At 5.25am we called the Greek coastguard in Piraeus and learned that they had already sent a rescue vessel to this location. At 5.30am we called back the contact person, who was in constant contact with the travellers. We were told that a fishing vessel was close to the shipwreck and that probably all travellers had been able to leave the water. In another call the contact person told us that the fishing vessel had disappeared without picking up the travellers, but with stealing the boat’s engine. At 5.37am we talked again to the coastguard and were assured that a rescue vessel is on its way to the island in order to pick up the travellers. We passed this information to the contact person. At 6am the contact person confirmed to us that all travellers had been able to leave the water and we advised them to try to make a fire and to stay together. 30 minutes later, at 6.30am, we received a message from this contact person, stating that all travellers were safe and had been picked up by the Greek coastguard.