Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 10th of November 2015

Case name: 2015_11_10-AEG125
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 6 distress cases in the Aegean Sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Tuesday the 10th of November 2015, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 6 emergency situations in the Aegean Sea. Four groups had stranded on Kastellorizo and were later detected and rescued by Greek authorities; one group in distress at sea was rescued by the Turkish coastguards and another one by the Greek coastguards.

At 3.01am, our shift team began to work on the first case of the day (case 1). Via a WhatsApp message, we were notified about a distress situation but had, apart from the GPS position, no further information. We received another message which seemed to refer to the same distress case as the GPS coordinates were very similar. We learned that there were about 30 people, including 13 children in distress but we were unable to reach their phone. At 3.55am, a woman contacted us to inform us that they had stranded on a Greek island and were a group of 25 people, including 10 children. They were unable to move away from their location and there were too many rocks in their path. When they landed on the island, three children had fallen into the water. Everyone was wet and freezing. We advised her to first call the international emergency number 112. At 4.17am we received an updated GPS position. When we could not reach the police on Kastellerizo Island we informed the Greek coastguards in Piraeus about the situation who passed us on to someone who confirmed that they would organise a rescue operation. We informed the group on the island but at 6.08am they told us that they were waiting for rescue. We tried to contact the local police station and could again not get through. We sent them a fax, explaining the situation. At 9.20am we contacted the port police of Kastellorizo and they confirmed that they knew about the case already and were in the process of rescuing. At 11.35am the port police confirmed that the group had been found and rescued.

At 3.16am we were alerted by Syrian activists through Facebook about a vessel in distress in Turkish waters (case 2). The engine had broken down and the vessel, carrying dozens of people including 7 children, was said to be capsizing. The number passed on to us, however, was incorrect and it was only at 3.54am that we received further information about the case. Another activist informed us that there were fewer people on the boat, about 13, and that while they were not capsizing, the situation was still very dangerous. The Turkish coastguards were already informed and at 4.36am the rescue of the group by the Turkish authorities was confirmed.

At 5.13am we were alerted to a group of 35 persons in a distress situation close to Pasas/Chios Island (case 3). We informed the Greek coastguards who said that they were already by the vessel. At 5.41am, our initial contact person confirmed that they had been rescued.

At about 9pm, a man called from the Greek island Kastellorizo and told us that they had stranded on the island and needed support (case 4). We advised them to first call 112. They later on said that the operator would only speak Turkish and they could not make themselves understood. The port police of Kastellorizo confirmed at 10.15pm that they knew of the case and would conduct a rescue operation which, however, would be difficult due to the rough weather conditions. We contacted the group again which comprised 5 women, 7 men and 2 children. At 10.50pm the port police said that they would have to wait until the morning for rescue, due to the weather conditions. At 9.42am the next day, the port police said that they would rescue them but were currently conducting emergency operations at sea. We informed the group via WhatsApp. At 11.50am we communicated with the UNHCR and informed them about the situation on the island. At 1.05pm the group confirmed that the police had found them and they were fine.

At 10.45pm someone from Sweden contacted us who told us that their relatives had stranded on the island of Kastellorizo (case 5). We immediately informed the port police on the island who confirmed that they would search for the vessel. Also in this case the police stated later that they could rescue the group only on the following day, due to difficult weather conditions. At 6.20am they estimated that they would be able to reach the group at around 10am.

At around 11pm we learned about another situation on Strongyli Island (case 6). Our contact person told us that a group of 10 men, 5 women and some children had landed there and needed support as they were all wet and freezing. They had already informed the local police station who said that they may have to wait until the next morning to be rescued. They were rescued presumably together with the group of case 5 and confirmed at 1.11pm that they were fine.

Additionally in the early evening, at 6.30am we received a WhatsApp message stating that a group of travellers would embark on a vessel two hours later to cross the sea to Greece. The person, who was himself part of the group, sent us regular updates. A few hours later, he informed us that he had safely arrived on Lesvos Island.