Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations - 26th of July 2015

Case name: 2015_07_26-AEG25
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to three cases of distress, both on land and at sea
Status of WTM Investigations: Ongoing
Place of Incidents: Aegean Sea, Greece/Turkey

Summary of the Cases: On Sunday the 26th of July 2015, in the early morning, the Alarm Phone received an emergency call from a vessel in distress in the Aegean Sea that carried between 40 to 50 people, including families with young children and a six month old baby. They had left Turkey and were on their way to Greece and said that they had problems with their engine and with water entering their vessel. They were able to pass on a GPS position to our shift team.

In a phone conversation, the Greek coastguards told us to call the Turkish authorities, as, following their account, the location of the travellers seemed to indicate that they were in Turkish territory. Shortly afterwards, at approximately 7am, the travellers stated that they had left Cesme in Turkey an hour and a half earlier and were now about 6km away from the Greek island of Chios. With the new coordinates they sent to us it was clear, at the time, that they were in Greek waters. Later on we found out that the borderline is not really clear in this particular area as there are several sea-maps indicating different territorial lines. They said that they had contacted the Greek coastguards several times but their requests for rescue were turned down as, so the coastguards, they were still in Turkish territory. The passengers stated that they knew they were in Greece as they had seen a Greek coastguard vessel approximately 500 meters away that merely observed them and then sailed on. Our shift team informed the Greek coastguards, the UNHCR in Greece and Turkey of the case of distress.

At approximately 9am, we were able to establish direct contact to the passengers once again and this time it was clear that the situation had become even more dramatic with passengers starting to panic and agreeing to be rescued by Turkish coastguards. We then quickly turned to the Turkish coastguards and they agreed to start a search and rescue operation. A few minutes later the travellers told us that one person had fallen out of the vessel and that more and more water was leaking inside. At about 10am, the Greek coastguards confirmed to us that they would launch a rescue operation as well after they had also called the people in distress. In the meantime, the travellers contacted us several times, stating that their vessel was about to capsize. They also sent us new GPS positions, possibly indicating that they were drifting toward Turkey.

At about 11am, the Greek coastguards stated that the Turkish authorities had agreed to conduct the rescue operation. They also reported that there were 35 distress cases in the area. The passengers then agreed to pass their mobile phone number on to the Turkish coastguards so that they could communicate directly with one another. At about 1pm, contact to the travellers could be re-established. They were already in a police station back in Turkey. Following their accounts, the person who had fallen into the water had been rescued by the Greek coastguards but was then handed over to the Turkish coastguards.

At 7.30am on the same day, our shift team received a message from Nawal Soufi’s activist collective about another distress situation in the Aegean Sea where the travellers seemed to already have been intercepted by Turkish coastguards. Our shift team reached out to the Turkish authorities who stated that the group of about 40 people had been found at a Turkish beach and were brought to a police station in Cesme. At approximately 1:40pm, we talked to members of the group in the police station and they reported that they had been at sea for about 3 hours, close to the island of Chios, when they were stopped by armed Special Forces of the Greek coastguard. They were brought back to Turkey and left alone after the Special Forces had taken away their engine. They agreed to prepare all the details about their experience and we will document this incident in detail. Later on, more accounts of these violent practices emerged in the Turkish media. Other groups recounted how they were approached by masked Greek coastguards who punctured their vessels and left them behind in distress at sea (see sources 1 and 2).

On the same day, shortly after noon, we had a third case from the same region in the Aegean Sea. Nawal’s activist collective contacted us again and said that they knew of a group stranded on a very small island between Cesme (Turkey) and Chios (Greece). They had run out of food and water. Despite several attempts they could not be reached but, at least, we had obtained GPS coordinates indicating their location. In a phone conversation with the Greek coastguards they suggested that the group was still in Turkish territory. We reached out to the Turkish coastguards and were told that they were already investigating the situation. At approximately 2.30pm, we finally reached the group and they said they had left Turkey one and a half days earlier. They encountered problems with their vessel and stranded on a small island. At approximately 5pm, they told us that they had been rescued by the Turkish coastguards. Shortly afterwards, the Turkish coastguards confirmed their rescue as well.