Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 6th of December 2022

Case name: 2022_11_30_Eastern Med_1079

Situation: About 45 people arrived on Lesvos, 3 remain on Lesvos whereas all others were pushed back to Turkey

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Eastern Mediterranean / Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On 6 December 2022, we were alerted by a group of people who had stranded in the north of Lesvos. They reported they were about 45 people among them around 14 children, among them a 2-months-old baby and a pregnant woman as well as an elderly woman with pain in their feet. They reported that some of them were in need of medical assistance due to health problems.

At 7:00 CET we alerted Greek authorities and several NGOs by email.

At 8:07 CET Medicine Sans Frontières (MSF) informed by email that their team was heading towa-rds the indicated location to provide medical assistance.

At 10:38 CET the people report that most of them were found by the police and were deported back to Turkey, but 3 people still remained on the island. These three people were too much af-raid to share their location again.

At 15:30 CET, they finally sent us a location and we alerted by email at 15:38 CET. The people informed us later that they were found by MSF and arrived in the camp.

The next day on 7 December at 10:47 CET, we received an email by MSF informing that the day before, MSF had provided medical and psychological assistance to 3 people in need who had reported that the original group consisted of 45 people. They urged the competent authorities to continue the search operations for the missing people. They reported that the 3 asylum seekers have been transferred to Megala Therma Camp by the police.

We called the Turkish Coast Guard to ask about incidents in the north of Lesvos on 6 December. They reported that at 14:53 local time they had found and rescued east of Lesvos (38 55,6N-026 45,6E) 41 people, which fits to the reports of the three.

Days later we managed to speak again with one of the people who was among those pushed back to Turkey. This is what they reported:

“We were out in a "basket" at sea and later found by the Turkish coastguard. We had arrived on the island during the night and called for help in the early morning hours. A few hours later, the Greek police came quietly at first, and then more policemen came. They kicked, slapped and beat the men up. They took all our documents and phones except from one. The Greek police forced us into a black car. Later they told us to walk down the valley. Those who resisted had their hands tied. We had to walk 4 hours from one side of the island to the other. We were searched several times. Finally we were taken to the sea on a big ship and then pushed into a "basket". A two-month-old baby was thrown from the top of the ship into the "basket", the father had to catch it from falling into the water. The children were all very scared, until now my son does not speak. We were found by the Turkish coast guard and brought to Izmir.”