Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigation – 5th of March 2015

Case name: 2015_03_05-AEG4
Situation: Vessel in distress in the Mytilene Strait
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Off the coast of Lesvos/Greece

Summary of the Case:The Alarm Phone shift team received a distress call from the Aegean Sea in the evening of the 5th of March 2015. The phone call came from people on a vessel located between Turkey and the Greek island of Lesvos. They suggested that there were around 40 passengers on board, amongst them women, children and babies. They could not forward their exact position but said that they were close to the island and were able to see houses, moving cars, as well as the lights of what appeared to be the airport. They asked the shift team to inform the coastguard to conduct a rescue operation. Presumably due to the lack of credit on the phone, the call broke off.

The shift team contacted the Rescue Centre in Mytilene and passed on the received information. They stated that the people on the boat had reached them already and that they were starting a search and rescue mission. The shift team also notified the Hellenic Rescue Team and the UNHCR. The people on the boat could not be reached anymore on the phone. The shift team was then contacted by the Central Office of the coastguards and cooperatively asked to pass on the phone number of the passengers since they were unable to reach them. It however, turned out to be the identical number. They informed the shift team that they had found a group that had arrived on land already and now needed to verify whether it was the group in question. Hours later, the shift team received another call from the Central Office which asked whether we were from Watch The Med. They stated that the rescue operation had been concluded and confirmed that they had found a group of mainly Syrian refugees near the airport of Mytilene. All found, amongst them children, were in good health condition and safe.