Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 16th of November 2019

Case name: 2019_11_16-AEG623
Situation: 24 people in distress South-East of Lesvos rescued to Greece; 40 people eventually rescued to Greece after being attacked and having their gasoline stolen
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases:
On the 16th of November our shift team was alerted to two boats in the Aegean Sea. One boat carrying 24 travellers, including 10 children, was rescued to Lesvos after their engine had stopped working. The other boat, carrying 40 travellers including 20 children, was attacked around 5km away from the southern shore of Lesvos. After a failed attempt to push back the boat, the travellers were eventually brought to Greece.

Case 1:
In the morning at 07:18 am CET we received a location of a boat South-East of Lesvos. The 24 travelers, among them 10 children, were afraid because the engine of the boat had stopped working and water was entering the boat. At 07:30 am we alerted the Greek coastguard and at 08:06 am a person on the boat in distress informed us about a vessel which was approaching them. The Greek Coastguard confirmed at 09:45 am the rescue to Mytilene.

Case 2:
Later in the night of the same day, at 11:27 pm CET our shift team received an alert to another boat in the same area through a relative from a person on board, reporting an attack. At 11:31pm we reached the boat, carrying 40 persons among which were 20 children and one pregnant woman. It was stopped about 5km close to Southern Lesvos by a ship. They told us that they were beaten with ropes and that the ship tried to push them back. We could hear kids shouting and crying in the background. We called the Greek Coast Guard at 00:03 am and they informed us about having “a vessel very close to this position”. At 01:13 am we called the Greek Coast Guard again but did not receive any new information. Nevertheless, we received a new position at 03:08 am which showed that the people were rescued and brought to Mytilene. We were told by the relative that the ship first stole the gasoline from the people on the boat in distress, but when the Turkish Coast Guard refused to return the passengers to Turkey, they were brought to Greece by the very same ship.