Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 28th of October 2021Case name: 20211028-AEG836
Situation: 21 travellers were in distress in Greek waters, then pushed back to Turkish waters and taken to Turkey by the Turkish Coast Guard.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea
Summary of the Case: On the 28th of October at 01:14 CEST we were informed about 21 people, among them 6 children, in distress in the North of Rhodes (36°25'29.4"N 27°53'23.1"E) by a relative of people on that boat. We tried to reach the travellers and as we weren't successful, we forwarded the case to the Hellenic Coast Guard at 01:50 CEST. During the night we call the Coast Guard in Rhodos as well as the Coast Guard in Symi.At 03:33 CEST we received a new position from the people on the boat, which was in Turkish waters. The people told us that, while water was entering their boat, the Hellenic Coast Guard "tore up" their boat and left them adrift in Turkish waters. We forwarded the distress case to the Turkish Coast guard who at 05:20 CEST confirmed that they were about to take the people on board to Turkey.
On the 24th of November we got in contact with one person from the boat again, who testified:
„We were on a rubber boat with 24 people with 3 children and 3 km in front of the Greek coast our motor stopped working. We called the Greek Coastguard and they came. But the Greek Coastguard came and they have beaten us up heavily, took our phones and our private belongings and insulted us. They screamed at us and insulted us: „We don‘t want you here, we get money from the EU to let you drown, why are you coming here?“ Then the Greek Coastguard destroyed our boat and we were drifting and were in big danger. Then the Turkish Coastguard came and if the Turkish Coastguard would have been there 30 minutes later, we would have been drowned and died already. The Turkish Coastguard took us on a vessel, gave us food, water, juice and clothes and took us back to Turkey.“
Last update: 10:58 Dec 12, 2021
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