Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 8th of July 2020

Case name: 2020_07_08-AEG688
Situation: 35 travelers (one pregnant woman) in distress between Rhodes and Saria, three boats standing by without rescuing, Greek authorities refuse to give out information.
Status of WTM Investigation: Unconfirmed
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On 8th of July 2020 a relative of a person on a boat in distress contacted the Alarm Phone. Reportedly, there were 35 persons on board, among them women and children. Our shift team received a GPS location and a phone number of the travelers. Their GPS was located between Rhodes and Saria Island in the shared Search and Rescue Zone between Greece and Turkey, in international waters. We learned that there was a pregnant woman in critical condition. Our shift team tried to call the travelers, but without success. At 10:23h CEST we called the Greek coastguard. The Greek coastguard replied that they were “investigating” and would not give any information to us. At 10:32h, we called the Turkish coastguard as well and learned that they did not have any operations in the area concerned. We still could not re-establish the contact to the travelers. At 12:15h we called the Greek authorities again, and they repeated to be “investigating”. At 12:45h, the relative called us, telling that there were three boats around the travelers, observing them without taking measures for their rescue. Fifteen minutes later, the relative reported to have lost contact to the travelers once more. At 13:10h, we called the Greek coastguard again, telling them, the people needed immediate help, and that we knew about the situation of three boats standing by without rescuing. They repeated to be “investigating”. Still not having news from the travelers, at 13:53h, we called again Turkish authorities. They had no information about a boat with 35 travelers and said that they normally did not move into this area close to Rhodes. At 14:00h we sent an e-mail with all our information on the case to the coastguards and the UNHCR in Turkey and in Greece. For the next hours, neither our shift team nor the relative could re-establish the contact to the travelers. At 17:30h we called the Greek coastguards’ office on Tilos, the island close to the GPS location of the travelers, and on Rhodes but they did not have information about a distress case in the area. At 17:35h the UNHCR Turkey replied to our e-mail, asking if we had updated information on the whereabouts of the group. At 19:33h we called the Greek coastguard again, and they claimed to be still “investigating”. We should give them information if we had any while they stated that they would not give us any. Meanwhile, the travelers could still not be reached. During the night and the next day, neither we nor the relative could get in touch with the travelers and until now, we have to remain without any clear information about the whereabouts of the people. We are still investigating to find out what happened to the travelers.

Twitter Chronology:
13:55h - https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1280832926591188992
22:42h - https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1280965430547537921