Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 17th of May 2019

Case name: 2019_05_17-AEG525
Situation: 40 people rescued to Kos, 55 people attacked and pulled back to Turkey
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases:

On Friday, 17th of May the Alarm Phone was alerted to two boats in distress in the Aegean Sea. The boat with 40 travellers was eventually rescued to the island of Kos. The second boat with 55 people on board was attacked by masked men close to the Greek island Samos. They were eventually pulled back by the Turkish Coast Guard.

Case 1: At 3:20am CEST we were alerted to a boat in distress on its way to Kos island, carrying 40 people. We could not establish a direct connection to the travellers, but received their GPS position via the contact person at 3:46am. The contact person informed us that the boat was losing air. At 3:46am we informed the Greek Coast Guard in Piraeus. We also sent an email to the respective authorities to document the alert. At 4:11am, we managed to reach the travellers. They told us that they would see a military ship close to them. At 4:12am we called the Greek Coast Guard again to pass this information. At 4:18am, the contact person informed us that the Coast Guard had reached the boat in distress. At 5:34am, the Coast Guard called the Alarm Phone to confirm the rescue.

Case 2 : At 4:25am CEST we were informed about a boat on its way to Samos with more than 50 people on board. According to the contact person, masked men had just attacked the boat, turned off the engine and stole the fuel. At 4:26am we managed to establish a connection to the travellers. They were 55 people on board, among them 15 women and an infant. They claimed masked men with black military clothes and speaking Greek arrived with a black highspeed dinghy, stole their fuel, and turned off their engine while they were left adrift in Turkish waters in the middle between Kusadasi and Samos Island in Greece. At 4:37am we received their GPS position. About 15 minutes after the masked men left, the Turkish coastguard was getting near them. At 4:38am the people told the Alarmphone that they could see the boat of the masked men still nearby. At 4:39am the contact person informed us that a coast guard ship had arrived. We couldn’t reach the travellers again. At 4:54am the contact person informed us that the people had been picked up by the Turkish Coast Guard. We tried to reach the travellers again the following days and as we were informed later the Turkish Coast Guard had arrived later after sunrise with a big boat, intercepted them and pulled them back to Turkey. They were then brought to Aydin in detention.