Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 29th of January 2016

Case name: 2016_01_29-AEG197
Situation: Hundreds of travellers stranded on the Greek islands of Pasas, Samos, Farmakonisi
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Friday, the 29th of January 2016, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 8 cases of distress in the Aegean Sea: 3 cases concerned travellers stranded on Pasas, in 2 cases travellers had stranded on Samos, and in 3 cases on the military island Farmakonisi. In all cases, the travellers were picked up. In one case, they reported however, that after having picked up from Farmakonisi, they were put in a camp in Kos, with out any food or water.

Pasas (cases 1 to 3)
The first alert reached us at 20 past 1am via WhatsApp: A group of about 16 persons with at least 4 children had stranded on Pasas. Our contact person told us that the group had arrived two hours earlier. We tried to reach out to the travellers. Since we could not reach them, we decided to call the Chios Port Authority at 2.20am. They were already informed about the group and told us that they had located them close to the church. They told us that the group should stay in vicinity of the church, from where they would be picked up in the morning.
At 4:56am, we received a second alert about stranded travellers on Pasas. This time a group of about 60 persons had stranded on the island. We asked them to go to the church, to join the other group. At 5.22am we called the Chios port Authority, but could not reach them. At 5.32am our contact person confirmed that the travellers had arrived at the church. Ten minutes later, we finally reached the Port Authorities on Chios. They told us that the travellers should wait at the church to be picked up.
At 10am we checked with the Port Authority again and they told us that they were just about to pick up the travellers from the church. Ten minutes later, our contact person confirmed that about 100 people had been rescued - so apparently there were more than the groups we had been in touch with or they were more than we had thought.
At 12.30 our contact person confirmed that the 60 persons of group 2 were all on the boats to Chios.
At 10:55am, a Facebook contact alerted us to a third group of 80 travellers, mostly women and children stranded on Pasas. They were close to the other two groups that were just picked up. At 11.30am we could directly talk to the people on Pasas and they confirmed that they had seen the other people being picked up. They said that the boat was coming back and that they would wait at the same spot. At 13.36, we called them back and they confirmed that all of them had been picked up as well and that they were brought to Chios.

Samos (Cases 4 and 5)
At 3:30am, we received a Whatsapp message from a contact person about a group of 45 travellers stranded on Samos 3 hours earlier. The contact person could not provide us with an up-to date position, but a contact number. We sent a WhatsApp message to the number, which was read but not answered. We also tried to call them, but no one picked up. At 5:56am, we sent a WhatsApp in Arabic asking them about their position, but the message was not even read. At 1.25pm, the contact person informed us that the travellers were safe.
At 9.15pm, two contact persons informed us about a second group of 15 travellers lost in an isolated part of Samos. We informed the Samos Port Authority, but they said that it would be very difficult to reach the place by boat at night. A bit later, the travellers sent voice messages that they are freezing. We were told that one of the women pregnant and would not stand the cold night. We tried to contact solidarity groups on Samos and the Greek Coastguard, but no one responded. At 10.50pm, we called the Port Authority again and they were on the way to pick up the group - contrary to what they had told us before. A bit later, the travellers told us that they boat came to pick them up.

Farmakonisi (Case 6 to 8)
At 3:30am, a contact person alerted us to a group of 37 travellers, with at least 15 children among them, who had just arrived on the military island of Farmakonisi. We sent a WhatsApp message to the travellers, asking for their position, as the contact person had none. We could not reach them, but at 4.38am they sent us their position. We gave them directions to a shelter and told them from where they would be picked up. We informed the Leros Port Authority, but they said that the rescue would take some time. At 5:11am the travellers sent us an updated position: They moved towards the port. After this we lost contact to the group. Our contact person also lost contact with the group. On marinetraffic we saw a boat moving several times back and forth between Leros and Farmakonisi. At 8.30pm, the contact person finally confirmed that the group had been picked up
At 7:30am, we received a WhatsApp about a second group stranded on Farmakonisi. We reached the group, who were about 40 people, but had difficulty communicating with the person who picked up the phone. A translator called them back and he told us that they were ok, since the weather was good and that they were waiting to be picked up. We informed the Leros Port Authority, who were not very cooperative, so we also called the UNHCR to inform them about the three groups on Farmakonisi. At 11:05am, the contact of the second group of travellers told us that they had been picked up at 8:30 from Farmakonisi and that they had been brought to Kos, where they were put in a camp. They had not been given any food or water. We sent them information about solidarity groups and support structures in Greece.
At 8:22am, another alert about people stuck on Farmakonisi reached us: About 120 people were waiting at the harbour. After informing the authorities and the UNHCR (see above), we followed the developments on marinetraffic. At 9:30am we saw that the boat ILIAS T left the harbour of Farmakonisi. Twenty minutes later, our contact person confirmed that about 50 people had been picked up.