Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 24th of March 2024
Case name: 2024_03_24-Eastern Med - 126
Situation: 150 people returned to Egypt by merchant vessel after Greek authorities refused disemarkation in Crete, Greece
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded Place of Incident: Eastern Med

Summary of the Case:
After receiving a call from a boat carrying around 150 people in severe distress between Libya and the Greek island of Crete, we immediately informed competent authorities in Egypt and Greece, as well as Frontex, at 16:22 CET on March 24th. In the following hours, we regularly updated authorities with new positions. At 20:05 CET, JRCC Cairo informed us that they were taking “proper action”. During the night, we got contacted by several relatives who were worried about their loved ones. Shortly before 07:00 CET in the morning of the next day, we reached the group again. They seemed stressed and the communication was difficult. We immediately forwarded their updated position to competent authorities.
Later that day, JRCC Cairo ordered different merchant vessels to support in the search for the people. However, at 18:21 CET we talked to the group again and they reported that no help had arrived. They also repeated that they remained in distress and in need of urgent help. Due to bad reception, the connection broke several times and communication was hard. Throughout the night, we received the information from the merchant vessel Feo Swan via mail that they had found and rescued 160 people.
The merchant vessel Feo Swan coordinated the rescue, while the merchant vessel Gamma Star took the people on board afterwards. Another merchant vessel was also involved, the Sunny Mark. Tragically, two people drowned during the rescue operation, as we learned the next morning.
With the people on board, the merchant vessel had begun to head towards Crete, but then received the order from Greek authorities that they were not allowed to disembark the people in Crete, and so they had to change course towards Port Said in Egypt. This was confirmed by the crew of the Feo Swan and Gamma Star. We wrote an email to different authorities and the Greek ombudsman, protesting against this decision, which endangered both the immediate health and long-term safety of the people. We asked “to immediately stop the transfer to Egypt and bring the people to a safe place in Europe.” Multiple people from the group were reported to be in a very poor medical condition and in need of urgent assistance. This had been made clear to Greek authorities by the crew of the merchant vessel.
Once they arrived in Port Said, Egyptian authorities informed us that a medical team went on board in Port Said to check each person. After that, people were reportedly taken to the police station where their nationality and papers were checked. We were informed that the embassies would be asked to come and pick up their nationals. According to the Egyptian Coast Guard, the International Organisation of Migration provided clothing and food to people.
We had tweeted of the ongoing distress case since we had first been in contact with the people, and published a final tweet to flag the issue that the people had been forced to disembark in Egypt:

#Egypt is not a safe place for these people! We condemn @hcoastguard’s refusal to let the ship disembark them in Crete. This deliberately puts the lives of the rescued at risk!

A relative of one survivor who came from Pakistan told us some weeks later: “My brother […] told me that he was not treated well in Egypt and we sent him tickets and not even shoes and clothes were given to him on his way out. They were harassed in Egypt, they took their mobile phones and their money and they did not even give them shoes when they were leaving. Some people have come back to Pakistan without shoes.”

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1771922624626442244