Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 14th of January 2020
Case name: 2020_01_14-AEG648 / 2020_01_14-LEB/CYP004
Situation: 50 travellers intercepted back to Turkey, 30 travellers intercepted to the Turkish part of Cyprus and another 12 travellers that had departed from Lebanon were also intercepted to the Turkish part of Cyprus.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Tuesday the 14th of January 2020 the Alarm Phone was alerted to three boats in distress in the Aegean Sea. One boat was intercepted back to Turkey and two boats were brought to the Turkish part of Cyprus.

At 04h40 CET the Alarm phone was alerted by a worried relative to a boat in distress carrying 50 travellers that had left from Izmir, in Turkey, during the night. During the hours that followed we tried to contact the travellers continuously, however we were never able to establish a contact. Also the relative that alerted us was no longer able to speak to the travellers, we were therefore not able to obtain a GPS position or any further information such as the island towards which the travellers were heading. The following morning at 8h22 and 09h06 we called the Greek and Turkish coastguard with the little information we had, which however was not enough to match to the rescues that had occurred the previous night. At 09h40 our shift team finally managed to speak to the travellers who told us that they had been intercepted back to Turkey but that they were all safe.

At 14h15 CET of the same day our shift team was alerted to a boat in distress north of Cyprus, carrying 30 travellers. The boat was nearly on land but near the borderline between the Cypriot and the Turkish side. At 14h30 we called the Cypriot coastguard in Larnaca (JRCC Larnaca) who told us that they were already aware of the case and that the Marine police was already close to the boat. At 16h41 the Cypriot coastguard still had no confirmation of the rescue by the Marine police. At 16h47 our shift team directly called the Marine police who confirmed that the travellers had been rescued and had been brought to the Cypriot part, however we still needed final confirmation of the rescue from the police headquarters. At 17h17 we called the police headquarters, but they told us that they were only aware about a rescue involving 100 travellers. As in the evening we still had not received confirmation on the rescue, at 22h20 we called the Turkish coastguard who also told us that they were only aware of a boat carrying 100 travellers rescued by the Cypriot coastguard. The following morning, at 08h35 we called once again the Cypriot coastguard who finally informed us that there had been two cases the previous day; one involving 100 travellers that had been rescued to Cyprus and another case, that had occurred in the north-western part of Cyprus, in the Turkish rescue area. We then unsuccessfully attempted to get information about this second case, which we believed to be our case, from the Turkish coastguard by contacting them both by phone and by email. At 13h09 we were informed about a Turkish newspaper article reporting about 34 refugees that had been intercepted by the Turkish coastguard and detained on the Turkish occupied territory on Cyprus. The same information was also reported in a facebook post.

At 16h17 CET of the same day the Alarm Phone was alerted to another boat in distress that had departed the previous evening from Tripoli, Lebanon. The boat was carrying 12 travellers and was heading towards Cyprus. We were not able to establish a connection with the boat so at 16h41 our shift team called the Cypriot coastguard in Larnaca who told us that the Marine police had rescued the boat. We called the Marine police for confirmation, however they answered that they had no information about a boat that had left from Lebanon. Similarly, the police headquarters of Cyprus had no information about this boat. At 17h44 we called the Lebanese coastguard in Beirut, they were also not aware about this case and they noted all the information we had. Contact with the boat could still not be established. At 19h26 the Lebanese coastguard called us and told us that they had no further information about the case and that they needed more information in order to start a search and rescue operation. Although we were not able to retrieve additional information, at 19h40 the Lebanese coastguard informed us that they would send a vessel to search for the missing boat. After not receiving further news, at 23h55 our shift team called the Lebanese Army Navy Operation, they confirmed that they were searching for the boat but that they had not yet found anything. The Cypriot coastguard told us that they could only broadcast a radio message for the vessels in the region, as there was not enough information to start a rescue operation. The following day there was still no new information about the case, and the travellers were still unreachable. In the evening of the 17th of January, 3 days after the start of the case, we saw a press message reporting that the Turkish coastguard and the Turkish military brought 12 people to the Turkish occupied part of Cyprus, the article included a photograph depicting the travellers on the boat. Relatives of the travellers were able to confirm that this was our boat.