Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 11th August 2020

Case name: 20200812-AEG698

Situation: A boat carrying 45 travelers was rescued to Lesvos by the Greek coastguard.

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: In the night of Wednesday the 12th of August the Alarm Phone was alerted to a boat in distress carrying 45 travellers, including 3 pregnant women and a baby, heading towards Lesvos. Twenty minutes later the travellers contacted us again and told us that they had been attacked by masked men who stole their petrol. They were very scared as their engine was broken and the sea was rough. We could also hear children crying in the background. At 01:40h and 01:45h CEST our shift team informed the Greek coastguard via email and phone, passing on all the information we had. At 02:10h we published a tweet informing about the situation. After speaking again to the travellers that kept requesting urgent help, at 02:45h we called again the Greek coastguard who told us that they were patrolling the area but did not find a boat at the GPS position that we sent. At 03:30h the travelers told us that they could see the island of Lesvos, however water was entering the boat and they were beginning to sink. We also received an updated GPS position, closer to Lesvos, which we forwarded to the Greek coastguard. After having lost contact with the travellers for several hours at 06:12h in the morning we called the Greek coastguard who told us that the boat had been rescued and that the travelers had been brought to Greece. This was confirmed by the travellers themselves at 06:26h.

Twitter Chronology:

12/08

02:10 - https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1293339825660211201

09:47 - https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1293453950180614144