Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 2nd of March 2020

Case name: 2020_03_02-AEG657
Situation: Two groups (16 people (1 pregnant woman, 3 children) and 29 people (15 kids, 2 pregnant women and one disabled person)) in distress in Greek waters after attack from Turkish and Greek authorities. All pushed back to Turkey.
Status of WTM Investigation: Under investigation
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases:
On 2nd of March 2020 in the early morning, the Alarm Phone was contacted in two cases of attack and distress at sea. The first call reached us at 2:50h from near Farmakonisi island, urgently asking for help after a push back. Reportedly, they had been attacked by two boats in Greek waters, being first hunted, then brought in distress by manoeuvres and lastly pulled back. Furthermore, the two boats took their fuel, broke their engine, and shot in their direction. We informed the Greek Coastguard about the boat in distress asking for immediate rescue. Eventually, the people were brought back to Turkey.
The second alert reached us at 08:35h, informing us about a boat in distress near the island of Chios. Reportedly, they had also been attacked in Greek waters, their engine and petrol had been made dysfunctional by Greek authorities and they were pushed back to Turkey. When we called the Greek Coastguard for their rescue, they replied that this group was on the Greek island Inousses. But later that day, this turned out to be false – the people had been pushed back to Turkey.

Case 1: Push back of 16 ppl (including 3 kids and one pregnant lady) from Farmakonisi

At 2:50h, we were called by a group of 16 people in distress near Farmakonisi island, among them a pregnant woman and three children. The people on the boat reported that they had been attacked by a silver colored boat with a blue stripe in Greek waters which had the number 146 and they saw the Greek flag on it. This boat tried to stop them. As they would stop voluntarily it was hunting them. It also made several maneuvres around them bringing their boat into distress. They also shot seven times in the sky and the sea around the boat to stop them from further moving towards Greece. Then they tried to take the engine of the terrified travelers with a long metal stick, thereby breaking it. They also took away their fuel. The Greek boat then left. At this time, the Alarm Phone received the alert call, when the travelers were in severe distress and asked for urgent help, as water was entering the boat. Their GPS location was close to Farmakonisi in Greek territorial waters and they couldn’t move. At 2:58h we contacted the Greek Coastguard to inform them about the case and demanded immediate action. We received the promise that they would act. Shortly after, at 3:20h, the people on the boat called us and reported that they were being pushed back to Turkey. Their GPS location at the time was still in the Greek Search and Rescue Zone but the position they sent to us showed them moving back towards Turkey. This time, as the travelers later reported, the first boat had returned and a second boat had arrived. The second boat was also of silver color with blue stripe and had an EU flag. The boat crew told them they would rescue them to Greece. Then they tied a rope to their boat and pulled them back to Turkey where the Turkish Coast guard was already present and watching. The Alarm Phone called the Geek and the Turkish Coastguards and reported about what we were witnessing, both authorities said they would investigate about it. We could not re-establish the contact to the travelers for the next hours. The next morning, the travelers confirmed to be back in Turkey and free.

Case 2: Push back of 29 ppl (including 15 kids, 2 pregnant ladies and one disabled person) from Chios

The same morning at 08:35h we were informed by the relative of someone on a boat in distress near the island of Chios, carrying 29 ppl (including 15 kids, 2 pregnant ladies and one disabled person). They were from Syria, Iraq and Somalia. The travellers had started from Izmir around 5:30h that morning. They had already been very close to Chios, when they were attacked about 1 hour later. According to the people, first a big silver boat had arrived near to them and then it let down an orange high speed boat with two officers on board which came to them. One of them was masked the other was holding a gun. The masked one entered their dinghy and cut with a knife the cables of the engine. He threw the fuel in the sea and tied their boat with a rope to theirs. Then he returned in the high speed boat and they pulled them back to Turkey. It took them 1 hour until the middle of the sea, where they were left. The Alarm Phone constantly tried without success to establish a direct contact to the travellers and call back again the relative. We could not get the GPS location. At 12:45h, the Alarm Phone called the coastguard of Chios to find out what happened to the people. We were told that they knew about the boat, and that the travellers were on the island of Inousses. However, at 14h, contrary to that, the relative of the people informed us that they had talked to the travellers again and had learned that they had been brought back to Turkey. We continued to try and get through to the people personally, but without success. At 18h the relative confirmed that they had talked to them again, they had been pushed back to Turkey. Later during the follow-up, we were told that the Greek coast guard had told the travellers they would be rescued to Greece. The travellers reported they had been scared to death by the appearance, behaviour and actions of the Greeks. They also stated that the high-speed boat of the Greeks had a hole and that the refugees helped them fix it before being pushed back and left adrift for 2 ½ hours in the middle of high waves. They were rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard and left free. One of the women on board broke her leg during the attack. She has her children in Germany and was trying to reach them.