Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 17th of August 2016

Case name: 2016_08_17-AEG262
Situation: Alarm Phone called by two boats in distress near the Greek island of Lesvos, one rescue to Greece confirmed
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Wednesday the 17th of August 2016 at 7.01am, the Alarm Phone was directly called from a boat in distress close to the Greek island of Lesvos. In a return call to this number at 7.06am, one of the travellers told us that they were close to Mytilini on Lesvos and in urgent need of help. We asked for their GPS coordinates, but were not able to obtain them. At 7.16am, we called the Greek coastguard in Piraeus and forwarded the phone number of the boat in distress. With the help of a translator from our network, we were able to get more information about the situation of distress afterwards. We learned that there were 40 people on the boat whose engine had run out of petrol about 1 kilometre off the shore of the Greek island of Lesvos. The travellers were able to see a rescue vessel close to them, which, however, did not approach them. At 8.05am, we called the travellers again in order to inform them that we had alerted the Greek coastguard. Although communication was difficult, we understood that two vessels, a red and a white one, were coming closer to the boat in distress. At 8.40am, we tried to call the travellers again, but did not reach them. Yet, at 8.55am, the Greek coastguard confirmed to us in another call, that the boat in distress had been rescued and that the travellers had been brought to Greece. Afterwards, we sent them a link to the Welcome to Europe brochure via SMS

Shortly after the first call, at 7.11am, the Alarm Phone was called by a second number, but it was very difficult to understand the person. Nevertheless, we realized that the caller was in a situation of distress and on the way to Greece. In the above mentioned call to the Greek coastguard at 7.16am, we also forwarded the phone number of this second call. At 7.24am, the number called us again, but the connection broke down. In the following hours, we were not able to reach this number again. However, the Greek coastguard confirmed to us in the call at 8.55am, that the second number belonged to another boat. Because on this day, the 17th of August 2016, 65 travellers reached the Greek island of Lesvos according to UNHCR data, we suppose that both boats have been rescued.