Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 30th of May 2017

Case name: 2017_05_30-AEG286
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 1 emergency situation in the Aegean Sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Tuesday the 30th of May 2017, shortly after midnight, the WatchTheMed Alarm Phone was alerted by a contact person to a rubber boat in the Aegean Sea, carrying approximately 30 people, including women and children. Based on the forwarded coordinates, we localised the boat already in Greek waters, near the Greek island of Inousses/Chios. We contacted one of the travellers via WhatsApp but did not receive a response. The Greek coastguards confirmed to us at about 1am that they had received a distress call about this case and would search for the boat. We received new GPS coordinates of the boat and passed them on to the Chios Port Authority at 1.24am. Shortly afterwards our contact person informed us that the people had reached the island and were able to move on. In turn, we informed the Greek coastguards. At 2.24am the Greek authorities contacted us, asking for further information about the case. Our contact person informed us at 2.33am that the group required help as it was raining and one of the children was sick. At 2.55am, the coastguards confirmed that they would send an ambulance to the group. At 5.38am, our contact person told us that the group had been found and transferred by the local police. However, we also heard later on that one man had jumped into the water from the boat in the attempt to swim ashore. So far, we have no further information on where and in what condition he is.