Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 3rd of March 2016

Case name: 2016_03_03-AEG224
Situation: 4 boats in distress near Greek islands of Chios, Lesvos and Pasas, 4 groups stranded on Pasas
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Thursday the 3rd of March 2016, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 8 groups of travellers in distress near or on the Greek islands of Chios, Lesvos and Pasas. 4 groups who had stranded on Pasas were rescued and transferred to the neighbouring island of Chios. Two boats reached Chios and Lesvos independently, while the Greek coastguard rescued two boats from distress close to Lesvos and Pasas respectively.

At 2.52am, the Alarm Phone received a WhatsApp message from a contact person, alerting us to a boat in distress in Turkish territorial waters east of the Greek island of Chios, the engine of which had broken down (case 1). The contact persons asked us to alert any coastguard as soon as possible, as water was already entering the boat. At 3.03am we established direct contact to the travellers via phone and via WhatsApp. The travellers also asked for immediate help, thus we decided to call the Turkish coastguard. We reached them at 3.26am and forwarded the GPS position and two phone numbers of the boat in distress. However, at 3.42am, the contact persons informed us that the boat’s engine had started again. 30 minutes later, at 4.15am, the Turkish coastguard called us back, asking if we have new information. They had talked to one of the numbers on board and had obtained quite different GPS data. At 4.36am we wrote a message to the travellers on board of the boat, asking if they still need help, but we did not receive an answer. Finally, at 11.15am, the contact person confirmed to us that the boat had safely and independently arrived on the Greek island of Chios.

At about 3.40am several contact persons alerted us to a boat in distress east of the Greek island of Lesvos, with 45 adults and 10 children on board (case 2). Although we were not able to reach the travellers directly, we called the Greek coastguard in Piraeus and forwarded our information. However, the officer asked us to urge the travellers to call the international emergency hotline 112 themselves. At 4.08am we called the regional coastguard on the island of Lesvos, who took the boat’s coordinates and phone number and asked us to call back in 10 to 15 minutes. We did so at 4.25am and were told that the boat had safely arrived at Mytilene airport. Only in the evening of this day, at 7pm, also the contact person confirmed to us that the travellers had indeed safely arrived on the island.

At 4.24am we were informed by a contact person about another boat in distress east of Lesvos and also forwarded its position and phone number to the regional coastguard in a call at 4.25am (case 3). At 5.04am, the contact persons confirmed to us that the travellers had been rescued by the Greek coastguard and had safely arrived on the island of Lesvos.

At 10.40am we were informed about a group of 35 travellers including 15 children, who had stranded on the Greek island of Pasas (case 4). We called the Greek coastguard at 10.50am and they promised to send a rescue vessel in order to transfer the travellers to the neighboring island of Chios. Shortly afterwards, our contact persons confirms to us that this rescue vessel had arrived and had started to embark the travellers.

However, at about the same time, 10.55am, we were informed about another group of travellers on the same island, who had apparently not been picked up together with the first group (case 5). Afterwards, neither the contact person nor we were able to establish direct contact to this group, but we also informed the authorities on Chios about this group. Only in the evening, at 10pm, the contact person was able to talk to the travellers again. He confirmed to us that they had also been transferred to Chios.

The GPS position and phone number of a third group of travellers stranded on the Greek island of Pasas was forwarded to us at 11.06am (case 6). In this case we were able to talk to the travellers with the help of a translator. We learned that they were about 40 people, being also in need of transfer to another island. At 12.35am the contact persons confirmed that also this third group had been rescued.

At 11.23am we were alerted to a fourth group of 40 travellers on Pasas via Facebook and WhatsApp and again provided with several new phone numbers (case 7). We tried to call and whatsapp these numbers, but did not reach anybody. At 12.29am we talked to the Chios port authorities and received the confirmation that the group with these phone numbers had already been picked up, while two other groups (cases 5 + 6) still had to wait. At 12.35am also our contact person confirmed the rescue of this group.

At 8.25pm a contact person alerted us to a boat in distress east of the Greek island of Pasas, with 40 people on board (case 8). He asked us to immediately inform the Greek coastguard, as water was already entering the boat. We tried to reach two phone numbers he had provided us with, but were not able to speak properly with the travellers. Thus, at 8.40pm, we called the Greek coastguard in Piraeus and forwarded the position and phone numbers of the boat in distress. At 9pm we also sent a distress-e-mail to the coastguard. At 9.20pm the contact person informed us that the Greek coastguard had rescued the boat.