Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 06th of March 2016

Case name: 2016_03_06-AEG226
Situation: 4 boats in distress near Greek islands of Samos and Lesvos; all rescued to Greece
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Sunday the 6th of March 2016, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 4 groups of travellers in distress in the Aegean Sea. The Greek coastguard rescued all travellers, 3 boats to the island of Samos and one boat to the island of Lesvos.

At 3.25am Alarm Phone was alerted via Facebook to an overloaded wooden boat in distress (60 passengers including 20 kids and 20 women) heading to the Greek island of Samos with coordinates that indicated a position near the Turkish coast (case 1). We immediately called the Turkish coastguard and they promised to send a rescue vessel and would update us as soon as possible. At 3.45am the contact person informed us that the engine had stopped and the boat started to sink, the people were scared and asking for immediate help from Turkish coastguards. The wooden boat was filled with water and it was more likely to sink faster than rubber boats. At 4.15am we called the Turkish coastguard again to ask for updates and informed them of the situation that seemed much worse than in the beginning. The officer told us that they could see the boat but it was entering Greek territorial waters. Therefore they contacted the Greek coastguard. We double-checked with the Turkish officer to make sure that we were working on the same case and the same boat and concluded that we had the same data. He also confirmed to us that it was the sole case they were working on in that region. Meanwhile, the contact person who was in immediate contact with the boat confirmed that the engine was working again and that the boat was being approached by a rescue vessel. He did not know which coastguard that boat was affiliated with. At 4.33am two different contact persons confirmed that the boat was rescued by the Greek coastguard.

At 3.30am the Alarm Phone was alerted via WhatsApp to a boat in distress heading to the island of Samos with 42 people on board, among them 15 children (case 2). We were provided with a number on the boat, but did not manage to reach them. At 3.40am we called the Greek coastguard in Piraeus. They said that they know of the boat and they had already sent a rescue vessel to the position. After one hour we called Piraeus again, asking for updates. The officer told us that they have saved many boats in that area and asked us to provide more information. We were not so sure if it was the same boat from case 1 since both cases were in the same area, but with different contact numbers and different numbers of people on board. At 3.34am we asked our contact person to get more information, but they did not have anything new. However, at 5.10am we sent an e-mail to the Greek coastguard and UNHCR informing them about the boat. At 5.46am we called Piraeus again asking for updates. The officer confirmed that they had helped many boats but she could not confirm whether the boat from this case was rescued or not. However, she thought that the people were saved. At 5.54am we tried calling the number on the boat again but our call went straight to the voice mail. We tried calling the number on the boat many times during the following hours but it was not reachable. At 1.20pm our contact person managed to reach the people on the boat and they confirmed that they were saved to the island of Samos.

At 6.07am we received a Facebook message alerting us to a boat in distress east of Lesvos, with 45 travellers on board (case 3). We called the Greek coastguard in Piraeus at 6.17am, forwarded the GPS coordinates of this boat and were told that they had rescued a boat in distress at this very position about 20 minutes earlier. We tried to figure out, at which time our coordinates were taken, but the contact person only answered to us that he had lost contact to the group but thinks that it was another boat. In the following hours we tried to contact the travellers directly, but did not reach them. However, at 10am the contact persons confirmed to us that the boat had been rescued by the Greek coastguard, together with 4 other boats.

At 6.10am another contact person alerted us to a boat in distress north of the Greek island of Samos, with 40 people on board, including 10 children (case 4). We informed the Greek coastguard in the same call as with case 3 and they promised to alert the local coastguard. At 6.50am we also informed the coastguard and the UNHCR Greece via e-mail about both cases. At 7.30am we talked briefly to the travellers on the boat. They were calm and seemed not to be in immediate distress. Afterwards we were not able to reach them again, however, the port police on Samos told us at 2.40pm that all boats in distress around Samos had been rescued and no accidents had occurred. At 4pm our contact persons also confirmed to us the arrival of the group to Samos. The Greek coastguard had indeed rescued them.