Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – March 5th 2021

Case name: 2021_03_05-AEG751

Situation: 28 people stranded in the North of Lesvos, Kagia Beach in Skala Sikamineas, illegally pushed back by Greek authorities

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of Case

At 12.40 CET Alarmphone was called by a relative of a group of people, including children and babies, who had arrived at Kagia Beach in Skala Sikamineas around 10.00 CET, intending to claim international protection, but were now hiding in the forest, afraid of being pushed back. The relative provided a phone number of the group of people but no GPS position. According to the relative the group had informed the UNHCR of their arrival and intention to claim assylum. We called the number of the group of people on the beach provided by the relative but were unable to reach them. At 13.15 CET the relative called again, relating they had knowledge of police and military having closed down the area surrounding Kagia Beach, likely in preparation of a push back. At 13.43 CET we called UNHCR to ask if they had any more information on this case. The operator answering denied but said they would forward the information provided by us to their collegues on Lesvos as well as other authorities.

At 18.45 CET the relative called again, informing us that that the group of people had been in the forest surrounding Kagia Beachs since 09.00 CET without food or water and people feared to be placed on boats and illegally pushed back by the police. Still, we had been unable to establish direct contact to the group at Kagia Beach. At 21.06 CET the relative called us again, relating that police was holding the people in the forest. The relative presumed authorities were waiting until night to proceed with the illegal push back. According to the relative, they had been in contact with someone from the UNHCR who had related they had been unable to prevent the illegal push back.

Upon calling authorities in Turkey at 22.10 CET, the operator informed us that there were two ongoing operations, one to the North of Lesvos. According to the operator, Turkish authorities had detected a boat to the North of Lesvos which was now being brought back to Turkey. We were advised to call again in the morning for more detailed information. We e-mailed authorities at 22.49 CET summarising the information we had on this case and requesting information on who was conducting a search and rescue operation. At 23.51 CET the relative informed us that the last thing they knew about their family member and the group they had been travelling with was that they had been pushed back.

In the morning of March 06th we called the Turkish coast guard who informed us of a boat found to the North of Lesvos around 22.00 CET last night, returned to Ayvalik port. The details of this boat, 8 men, 5 women and 15 children, do not exactly match the information we received on the case of the 28 people on Kagia Beach. At 11.40 CET the relative who had originally informed us about this case called, relating they knew that many women and children and one man from Afghanistan had been part of the group, but had no further information. We had not been able to establish contact to the group; we are still investigating the detailed developments and will include potential updates into this report and expect UNHCR Greece to run an investigation on this incident.

Twitter Chronology

March 05th

14.09 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1367824199499276290

20.22 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1367918413025316866

March 06th

15.45 CET https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1368207559165902849