Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 18th of March 2017

Case name: 2017_03_18-AEG281
Situation: Group of 28, including many women and children, stranded on Greek island of Vatos; all rescued to Chios
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Saturday the 18th of March 2017 at about 7pm, the Alarm Phone was alerted to a group of travellers in distress, stranded on the shores of the Greek island of Vatos. At 7.15pm, we were able to speak directly to the travellers and learned that they were a group of 28, including many women and children. At 7.25pm, we forwarded the travellers’ position to the Greek Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) in Piraeus via email and also called the Greek JRCC at 7.30pm. They promised to take care of the stranded travellers. Afterwards, we were not able to reach the travellers again. At 9.25pm and at 10.25pm, we called the coastguard again and asked for news, but only learned that it would take some time until a rescue vessel reached the travellers on the island. At 11.15pm, we called the port authorities on the neighbouring island Chios. They knew about the case and informed us that they were expecting the travellers to arrive soon on Chios, as a coastguard vessel had been send to pick them up. One hour later, at 0.22am, we talked again to the port authorities and they confirmed to us that the travellers had safely arrived on Chios. On the afternoon of the next day, we called the contact person who had initially informed us about the case and he confirmed to us that all travellers were doing well.