Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 15th of June 2019

Case name: 2019_06_15-AEG537
Situation: 16 travelers (7 children) landed on Samos island and were picked up by the port police
: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On Saturday, 15th of June at 4.24am CEST our shift team received the GPS location and two phone numbers of a group of people at the beach in the north of Symi Island via a contact person. At 4.30am we called one of the numbers and talked to a person who was not with them but who was in contact with them. At 4.38am we called the second number and did not get through, so we asked the contact person if there was another number to reach the travelers. At 4.47am the first contact person informed us that the group had just arrived, and the second contact person sent another phone number. At 4.50am we established a connection to the travelers and learned that they were 4 families, among them 7 children and they were stuck on the beach. At 5.10am we received their current location and a confirmation of the number of people via WhatsApp and at 5.18am we informed the Greek Coast Guard in Piraeus. They told us that the port authorities on Symi island would send a boat within the next ten minutes. We agreed to call back in 20 minutes.
At 5.29am we informed the travelers that a boat was on its way towards them.
At 6.06am we received the information by the port authorities of Symi that they had found them and were waiting for a smaller boat to be able to pick them up at the rocky beach. The travelers confirmed this via WhatsApp.
At 8.09am we received the confirmation by JRCC Piraeus that the group had been rescued and our contact person also confirmed the rescue shortly after but we could not get a direct confirmation by the travelers themselves.