Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations - 15th of March 2018

Case name: 2018_03_15-AEG346
Situation: Boat in distress with about 65 people on board, including 25 children, safely arrived on the Greek island of Lesvos
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Thursday, the 15th of March 2018 at 2am, a contact person informed the Alarm Phone about a boat in distress south of the Greek island of Lesvos, with approximately 65 people on board, including 25 children. We also received an audio file directly from the boat, which showed that the travellers were facing very high waves and that water was already entering their boat. The travellers also asked to alert the Turkish coastguard in this voice message. We immediately tried to call the travellers via phone but did not reach them directly. Thus, at 2.35am, we called the Turkish coastguard and forwarded all information to them we had received so far. At 2.52am, we also provided the Turkish coastguard with this information via email. At 3.25am, the Turkish coastguard called us back and informed us that they had search in the area with a rescue vessel but had not find any boat in distress. However, at 6am, a contact person informed us that the travellers had safely arrived at the Greek island of Lesvos. We tried to call them directly, but again did not reach them. At 6.16am, we called the Greek coastguard on Lesvos and asked them for information on boat arrivals on that day. They confirmed to us that three boats had arrived, but the numbers of travellers did not really match with our information on the boat we had been alerted to. After a lot of research and contact to several actors on the island, in the evening of that day, our contact person confirmed to us that he had spoken to the travellers directly and that they have safely arrived on Lesvos.