Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 17th of June 2020
Case name: 2020_06_15-AEG679
Situation: 67 pushbacked to Turkey by HCG and then 'rescued' by the TCG
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea
Summary of the Case:67 people, including 20 women and 27 children, attacked by the Greek Coastguard and pushed back to Turkey

At about 06:30 CEST we were contacted by a relative of somebody on a boat in distress in the Aegean. They sent us a position for the boat showed it to be in Greek waters and number for the people on board. Shortly afterwards they contacted us again to tell us that the boat had been attacked by the Greek coastguard and was now adrift.

At 09:11 we were finally able to get in touch with the boat who sent us an updated position. They informed us that the Greek coastguard were standing by but not acting as they drifted in the Aegean. We informed the coordination centre of the Hellenic coastguard in Piraeus by phone and email. We put out the following tweet:
At 9:11 CEST we were contacted by a boat in distress in #Greek waters near Lesvos. There are 67 people incl. women and 27 children. The people say their engine is destroyed and the boat is adrift. We alerted the Greek Coast Guard @HCoastGuard to ask for immediate rescue.

Neither our social media pressure nor our report to the coastguard had any effect. The people on board sent us photos of the poor condition of the ship and of a Hellenic coastguard vessel clearly visible in the vicinity. We sent out another tweet:
According to the people, there are 20 women & 27 children on board & they have been in the water for more than 7 hours. They say a vessel with the number 1411 is nearby. Water is entering the boat & some of them do not wear life-vests. We ask competent authorities to rescue them!

Shortly afterwards we sent out another tweet evidencing the presence of European authorities:
The people in distress sent us this picture, showing 2 vessels in close proximity to the boat. The most recent position of the boat is 39.13300, 26.62875. Why are they not being rescued? @NATO @Frontex @HCoastGuard

Just before midday, the relative onshore told us that the coastguard vessel, Lambro 57, had attacked the boat and thrown the engine into the water. He also explained that the travellers were exhausted. At about 12:30 CEST we were in touch with the boat again, but the call was cut as the Turkish coastguard arrived to carry out a "rescue".

We phoned Piraeus to find out what had happened and they confirmed that the Turkish authorities had picked up the people. They also told us that the boat had been in Turkish waters. This was a clear lie.The Turkish coastguard also confirmed the rescue.

Later that afternoon, we spoke to one of the survivors, who was now in jail. She confirmed the sequence of events reported above. We put out a final tweet:

Turkish authorities confirmed to us that they have picked up the group in distress. The group's last position was clearly in Greek waters! The survivors have also confirmed their return to Turkey. We condemn these systematic non-assistance practices by the Greek authorities.