Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 26th of November 2022
Case name: 2022_26_11_Eastern Med_1068Situation: Group stranded on Lesvos, 26 received assistance while 7 people were pushed back to Turkey
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Eastern Mediterranean / Aegean Sea
Summary of the Case:

On 26th of November 2022 in the morning we were alerted by relatives of a group of 32 people who landed on Lesvos in the area of Mantamados. They were 8 men, 9 women and 16 children, elderly people among them. They reported that some of them need medical attention due to health problems, an injured pregnant woman was bleeding and in pain, and about to give birth, and another person had a broken leg, they were all cold and wet. They sent videos to show their situation.

At 9:00 CET we alerted Greek authorities and several NGOs and informed them about their need for medical assistance and their need for international protection.

At 9:57 CET Doctors without borders (MSF) answered by email that they would try to provide medical assistance. At 12:33 CET the relatives inform us, that their family members were assisted by MSF. We learned later that two people were referred to a hospital and most of the people arrived in the camp, but 7 people were missing.

At 19:44 CET MSF sent an email to inform that MSF had provided medical and psychological assistance to 26 people in need: “One advanced pregnant woman and a young boy have been referred to the Hospital through Ambulance service. There are SEVEN people missing from the initial group; one woman has lost her husband in this group. We are kindly requesting all Authorities to continue Searching for the missing people.”

In the evening we were informed that the 7 missing people, among them one man who was sick, were arrested by the police and deported back to Turkey. The Turkish coastguard confirmed in a phone call that they had found 7 people who had been pushed back from Lesvos and they had brought them to Dikili in the early afternoon.

Days later we managed to get in touch with the people who had been pushed back to Turkey. They were sad and exhausted but did not want to talk about this experience.