Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 3rd of July 2020
Case name: 2020_07_03-AEG685
Situation: 30 travellers probably reached Lesvos.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: In the evening of Friday the 3rd of July, at 20:42h CEST, the Alarm Phone was alerted by a friend of one of the travellers, to a boat in distress in the Aegean Sea. At 12:00h we reached the travellers who were panicking as there was a hole in the boat. They reported that lots of water was entering and the boat was starting to sink. The boat was carrying 30 travellers including 11 women and 7 children. At 21:09h we called the Greek coastguard in Pireus and passed on all the information we had, including the GPS position. At 21:19h we called the travellers again; the situation had deteriorated quickly - people were screaming that the boat was sinking. We immediately called the Greek coastguard, who, however, refused to share any specific information. At 21:31h the travellers sent us a video showing the boat, half deflated and with lots of water inside. At 21:40h our shift team phoned the Greek coastguard in Mytilini who told us that they had already been informed by Piraeus. They refused to tell us whether the boat had been found and to give us any further information. Following this phone call we were no longer able to reach the Mytilini coastguard as they did not answer our following calls. At 21:54h we sent an email to the Greek coastguard with the information we had on the case. At 22:09h and several other times during the night, our shift team called back the coastguard in Piraeus, however they remained uncooperative and did not give us any information. At 22:55h we published a first of a series of tweets informing about the case. By this time we had lost contact with the travellers. At 00:39h we sent an email to the coastguard urgently requesting a rescue. The following morning, the friend of one of the travellers who had first alerted the Alarm Phone called us back, asking for news. She was very worried that they might have drowned. She had also lost contact since many hours. At 08:25h we called the Turkish coastguard who informed us about a boat that had been rescued earlier that morning, and two boats that had been pushed back by the Greek coastguard. However none of these boats matched the boat we were looking for, as the positions were different. Later in the morning, we emailed the Greek coastguard asking if they had information regarding the case. At 11:54h we were called again by the same friend of one of the travellers. She had received a call from the travellers who told her that hey were on land in Greece! She did not know where they were, and how they got there, but they were with the Greek police. After receiving the GPS location of the travellers we could see that they were in Lesvos. As we could not reach the travellers ourselves, at 12:30h we managed to reach the coastguard in Mytilene asking for confirmation of the travellers’ arrival. However, they told us that there had been no arrivals on that day. During the rest of the afternoon and evening we tried to get confirmation of the rescue from the coastguard and travellers. However, the coastguards never confirmed and we could not reach the travellers. Although we could not receive confirmation, we believe that the travellers managed to reach Lesvos.

We are still investigating the detailed developments and will include potential updates into this report.

Twitter Chronology:

2020-07-03
22:04 https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1279143968043925504
22:55 https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1279156795148316672

2020-07-04
00:48 https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1279185398720352257
10:24 https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1279330330223300611