Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 5th of December 2015

Case name: 2015_12_05-AEG148
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 9 distress cases in the Aegean Sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Saturday the 5th of December 2015, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 9 distress situations in the Aegean region. Two groups had stranded on different Greek islands and were rescued hours later. Four groups of travellers were rescued by Greek authorities while 2 other groups were rescued by the Turkish coastguards. One group either reached Greek territory independently or was also rescued by the Greek coastguards.

At 2.35am our shift team was alerted by a Syrian activist who informed us about a vessel in distress carrying 45 people, including 20 children and seeking to reach Chios Island (case 1). We were told that their engine had stopped working and that the waves were high. We then spoke to the travellers directly and it was clear that they were very anxious but the connection quickly broke down. We informed the Greek coastguards at 2.50am. They noted down the GPS coordinates and then stated that we should alert the Turkish coastguards as the vessel was still in Turkish waters. The travellers themselves did not want us to alert the Turkish authorities and we agreed to wait and see whether they would be able to move further toward Greek territory. Afterwards no direct contact to the group could be re-stablished. At 5.13am, our initial contact person informed us that they had safely reached Greece.

At 3.27am we were called by a woman who was part of a group of about 35 people, including 15 children that had stranded on Ro Island (case 2). They told us shortly afterwards that they had already contacted authorities on Kastellorizo Island. We also contacted the Port Authority on Kastellorizo who confirmed that they knew about the situation and would go to rescue them in the morning. We in turn informed the stranded group. Later on the authorities stated that there were in fact about 44 people on the island and they would transfer them in small groups. At 4.10pm they confirmed that the whole group had been found and transferred from Ro which was also confirmed by the travellers themselves at 4.29pm.

The same contact person from case 1 informed us about another vessel seeking to reach Chios, this time carrying about 50 people, including 15 children (case 3). When we reached out to the Chios Port Authority around 7am they confirmed that everyone had been found and rescued.

At 5.51am we received a message from a Syrian activist who told us about a vessel in distress, seeking to reach Lesvos and carrying a group of 40 people with nobody wearing life jackets (case 4). We reached the travellers directly at 5.51am and they were clearly anxious and in need of help. We informed the Greek coastguards at 6am and they noted down the details of the case. At 9.17am the Greek authorities confirmed that they were looking for the vessel and about half an hour later they stated that they went to the stated position but were unable to find the vessel. We were unable to reach the travellers for several hours. Only at 7.15pm we were able to receive an update from the initial contact person: the people had been rescued by the Turkish coastguards and were back in Turkey.

We then received another case through a Syrian activist who told us about a vessel in distress (case 5). We were unable to contact the group of about 45 people directly but our contact person asked us to inform the Turkish coastguards which we did at 7.02am. They knew of this case already and at 8.52am we received the confirmation that the group had been rescued.

At 8.26am a contact person informed us via Facebook about a group of 60 people, including 10 children, seeking to reach Lesvos (case 6). We reached the travellers directly at 8.34am and they confirmed that they needed help. We informed that Greek coastguards on Lesvos a few minutes later and they noted down the details of the case. They promised that they would look for the group and we passed this information on to the travellers. At 10.37am our initial contact person confirmed that they had been rescued and were all safe.

At 2.17pm we received a case through the activist network United Rescue, informing us about a vessel near Lesvos, carrying 61 people, including 30 children (case 7). Their engine had broken down and when we reached them at 2.22pm they were very anxious. We spoke to the Greek coastguards on Lesvos at 2.30pm who promised to take care of the situation. Our contact person confirmed at 3.02pm that they had been found and rescued.

At 2.52pm we received a distress case via WhatsApp concerning a group of about 40 people that had stranded on the small Greek island of Pasas (case 8). We were told through a contact person that they were on a rocky area and the coastguards refused to come rescue them. We called the Port Authority on Chios and they confirmed that they would take on the case. We then heard through the contact person that people were moving on the island but were quite desperate for help. At 6.10pm the Chios Port Authority stated that they sent out a vessel but due to bad weather conditions the search was taking a long time. At 6.15pm our contact person confirmed that the group had been found and rescued.

At 11.40pm our shift team was contacted by various individuals and group who alerted us to a vessel carrying between 70-100 people, including 15-25 children, moving toward Kalolimnos (case 9). We received several different GPS position and then alerted the Greek coastguards at 00:45am who already knew about the case but still noted down all the details that we had gathered. At 2.30am we reached the travellers and they told us that they had reached a beach and that the Greek coastguards were there to help them.