Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 6th of March 2020

Case name: 2020_03_06-AEG659
Situation: 46 travelers brought back to Turkey; 45 people (including 15 kids) pushed back to Turkey after attack by Greek authorities; 60-65 people (including 30 kids) pushed back to Turkey after attack by Greek authorities; 29 travelers brought back to Turkey after being attacked in Greek waters; 40 travelers (including 15 babies and children) brought back to Turkey after being attacked in Greek waters; 53 people (including 17 kids) brought back to Turkey after being attacked in Greek waters
Status of WTM Investigation: Under investigation
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases:
The first distress call reached the Alarm Phone at 00:36h from 46 travelers close to the Greek border. We first informed the Turkish, then the Greek coastguard and eventually the people were brought to Turkey.
The second call at 02:49h came from a group of 45 travelers (including 15 kids). They were in distress after an attack by Greek authorities and had been pushed back by them to Turkish waters. We alerted the Turkish coastguard who brought the people back to Turkey.
The third alert reached our shift team at 07:45h from a relative who had lost contact to a boat. We managed to reach the group of 60-65 people (including 30 kids) and learned that they had been pushed back from Greek to Turkish waters. They were brought back to Turkey by the Turkish coastguard after Greek authorities had attacked them and had made them believe to bring them to Greece.
At 09:51h the fourth alert came in from 29 travelers. They had been pushed into Turkish waters and put into distress by a Greek boat and shot at. After being left adrift with their boat damaged, they were brought back to Turkey by the Turkish coastguard.
The fifth alert reached us at 22:19h from 40 travelers (including 15 babies and children), afraid of drowning. They had been stopped in Greek waters by Greek authorities, were forced to throw their fuel into the water and were made believed to be brought to Greece. Instead the Greek coastguard brought them into Turkish waters, from where they were rescued by the Turkish coastguard.
The sixth call came in at 23:18h from 53 people (including 17 kids). They had been attacked and pushed back from Greek into Turkish waters, and left drifting without fuel and with their boat taking in water. We informed the Turkish coastguard and they brought the people back to Turkey.


Case 1: Push-back of 46 ppl near Lesvos

At 00:36h CET our shift team received a distress call from a boat carrying 46 travelers in Turkish waters, close to the Greek border. The people asked us to alert the Coastguard. As they were in Turkish waters, we informed the Turkish coastguard at 01:05h and an officer told us that right at that moment, there were two Turkish and two Greek boats at that positions and according to their observation, the boat was in the Greek Search-and-Rescue-Zone. Therefore, they were standing by at the Turkish side and we should address the Greek coastguard. We did so at 01:15h, but the Greek officer refuses to share information about the case. At 02:45h we managed to get through to the travelers again, but the connection was very bad, and we thought we understood they were back in Turkey. From then on, we could not talk to them anymore. At 13:55h we received the confirmation of the Turkish Coastguard that they had bought back 46 people with the matching phone number Turkey. The travelers could not yet be reached for follow-up.

Case 2: Push back of 45 ppl (including 15 kids) near Lesvos

At 2:49h CET we were alerted to a boat carrying 30 travellers and 15 children – all from Syria, that had been only half an hour earlier detected in Greek waters. Their GPS location showed them in Turkish water, close to the Greek border southeast of Lesvos. At 3:30h CET we learned from the travellers that the Greek authorities had destroyed their engine and the connection to their fuel, tied a rope from the refugee boat to the coast guard’s and pulled them back to Turkey. The weather was bad, there were high waves and it was cold. The kids were wet and cold and one person was in critical health condition. They had already informed the Turkish Coastguard and asked us to support their call for rescue. At 3:50h we reached the Turkish Coastguard and they promised to get in contact with the boat. From then on, we could not reach the people on board anymore. At 5:00h, the Turkish Coastguard confirmed the rescue of a group of travelers with the corresponding phone number, the people were brought first to Dikili Port. Only at 14:20h, we could talk to a person of the group again, and they confirmed to be back in Turkey. Later we learned from the travellers, that they had been transferred to a detention centre for foreigners where they stayed 20 days.

Case 3: Push back of 60-65 ppl (including 30 kids) near Lesvos

At 07:45h CET out shift team was alerted by a relative of a traveler of a boat with only Afghan protection seekers in distress – most of them families with women and kids. She shared a GPS location from the boat in the east of Lesvos and reported to be highly worried since she had lost contact with the travelers. At 8:10h we managed to contact the boat and the people reported that they were back in Turkey after being pushed back from Greek waters. The children who had been on the boat were in bad condition and had been brought to hospital. As we understood during a later follow-up, the refugee boat had reached Greek waters and 20 minutes after crossing the border line, around 5:00h, was then reportedly stopped by a big dark boat coming from the direction of the Greek island of Lesvos. They were told they would be saved to the Greek island now and should throw their life-vests in the sea. Shortly after a second boat arrived, this time a white one. The people on this boat were all masked. They ordered them to turn their phones off and look down. The maneuvres of this boat created many waves and water entered the boat. It had broken and was taking on water. Then they took their fuel and engine on their boat and ordered the travelers to tie a rope to their boat, so they would bring them to Greece, but instead they pulled them with very high speed back to Turkish waters. The rope broke three times. More water entered the refugee boat. The travelers informed the Turkish coast guard to save them. They came 30 minutes later and argued with the Greek coast guard as they had entered Turkish waters. In Turkey, the travelers were detained for 12 days in Izmir removal center.

Case 4: Attack and push back of 29 ppl from the sea near Symi

At 9:51h CET we were alerted by a group of 29 travelers in distress. They reported that their fuel had been attacked by two small highspeed boats with masked men and a third big boat with the Greek flag, and that they had been pulled back to Turkish waters. They had been put into distress by all three boats repeatedly making circles around them and creating waves as well as the big boat ramming them twice. The big boat also used a water gun on them. Their boat was severely damaged at the point of time they were left adrift in Turkish waters and asked for urgent rescue by the Turkish Coastguard. Half of the dinghy had lost air. Some minutes later, they informed the Alarm Phone that the Turkish Coastguard had arrived. At 10:10h they confirmed to be transferred to the boat of the Coastguard and brought back to Turkey. There they were detained for one day in Datça and for another day in Muğla before being released.

Case 5: Push back of 40 ppl (including 15 babies and children) near Samos

At 22:19h CET we were alerted by a group of travelers in panic, saying they were drowning. We asked them to send a GPS location and they agreed, then the call was cut before we could find out more. We could not re-establish the contact and we never received a GPS location. During the follow-up, the travelers told us that their boat had been stopped in Greek waters by a white boat of the Greek coast guard. They were ordered to throw their fuel into the sea and to tie a rope they were given to their boat, so that they could be rescued to Samos. The Greek authorities instead pulled them back to Turkish waters and left them adrift. The boat was taking on water and the travelers were scared to death. In this time, they called the Alarm Phone. After one hour, the Turkish coast guard rescued them and brought them to the Aydin removal centre where they stayed 14 days.

Case 6: Push back of 53 ppl (including 17 kids) near Aghathonisi

At 23:18h CET, the Alarm Phone was called by a group of travelers coming from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan near Agathonisi island, close to the borderline, in Turkish waters. Reportedly, the Greek Coastguard about one hour earlier had taken their fuel and left them at sea. They could not move back or forth anymore and were in distress in need to be rescued. Our shift team informed the Turkish Coastguard and passed them the GPS coordinates. They asked directly if the Greek Coastguard had taken away their engine, when we reported that they were adrift. We sent them the information via e-mail and shortly afterwards they replied that they had picked up the people and brought them back to Turkey. Later we learned from the travelers, that a very big boat either from the Greek coast guard or the NATO, had stopped them in Greek waters. They put all projector lights on the refugee boat, so the travelers could not see more than three officers in blue uniforms on board one of which was pointing a gun on them. They all were wearing masks. They were ordered to tie a rope to their boat, to throw and engine and fuel into the sea. During the 45 minutes the big boat was pulling them a lot of water entered into the refugee dinghy. Left behind in Turkish waters, they waited one hour for the rescue by the Turkish authorities while they boat was taking on more water and being exposed to high waves. The travelers then were detained for 15 days in Aydin removal centre.