Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 3rd of January 2016

Case name: 2016_01_03-AEG175
Situation: 10 boats in distress near the Greek island of Farmakonisi, Samos, Lesvos, Kos and Pasas
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Sunday the 3rd of January 2016 the Alarm Phone was alerted to 10 groups in distress on their way to the Greek island of Farmakonisi, Samos, Lesvos, Kos and Pasas. One group had lost orientation at the Turkish coast, while three groups had stranded on the Greek islands of Farmakonisi, Samos and Pasas and were rescued and transferred to larger islands later on. Furthermore, the Alarm Phone had been in contact with 6 boats in distress. 4 boats reached the Greek islands of Lesvos and Samos independently or were rescued by the Greek coastguard, while 2 groups of travellers were intercepted by the Turkish coastguard.

The Alarm Phone received a WhatsApp message at 0.25am, alerting us to a group of 35 travellers, including 14 women and 6 children, who had stranded on the Greek military island of Farmakonisi at around midnight (case 1). In the following hours we were neither able to reach the travellers nor the port authorities on the neighbouring island of Leros, who are responsible for the transfer of stranded travellers from Farmakonisi to Leros. Only at 2.45am we reached the travellers and received an updated GPS position. At 4.15am we sent an e-mail to the local police on Leros, as the responsible port authorities were still not reachable. However, at 4.30am we reached the port authority and they promised to send a rescue vessel in the following hours. In another call to the port authorities at about 6am they urged us to asked the travellers to walk to the port of Farmakonisi. The rescue vessel scheduled to arrive on Farmakonisi at about 7.30am. At 6.30am we sent a screenshot of a map to the travellers in order to show them how they can walk to the island’s port. They thanked us and promised to do so. During the day we were not able to establish contact to the travellers again. However, at about 6.30pm in the evening we learned from the person who had initially informed us about the stranded group that they had been picked up and brought to Leros at noon.

At 0.50am the Alarm Phone was alerted via Facebook to a boat in distress east of the Greek island of Samos and provided with GPS coordinates and a phone number (case 2). 45 travellers were on board of the boat in distress and water was already entering it. We called the Greek coastguard immediately and also provided them with all available information via e-mail. At 1.10am we received updated coordinates and realized that the boat was quickly moving towards Samos. Finally, at 1.40am and at 1.55am different contact persons confirmed to us that the travellers had safely arrived on Samos by themselves.

At 2.30am a contact person informed us via Facebook about a group of 70 travellers who were stuck and got lost on the Turkish mainland (case 3). Apparently, they had been left alone. Together with the contact person we discussed if it was better to call the coast guard or the local police. Finally we decided together to alert the Turkish coastguard and the contact person did so.

At 3.15am a contact person provided us with several phone numbers and also with GPS coordinates of a group of 35 travellers east of the Greek island of Lesvos (case 4). Unfortunately, we were not able to reach the travellers on these phone numbers. Although we had not spoken to the travellers, we forwarded this information to the Joint Marine Rescue Coordination Centre in Piraeus. At 3.40am and 4.25am they called us back twice and reported that they had found no boat in distress in this area. In the meantime, one of our contact persons was able to talk to the travellers and called us. He was able to confirm their rescue to the Greek island of Lesvos at 4.50am.

At 3.30am we were alerted to a group in distress close to the Greek island of Kos, whose boat had run out of fuel in Turkish waters (case 5). However, already at 3.45am, the contact person informed us that the travellers had been rescued by the Turkish coastguard.

At 5.10 another contact person informed us about a group of 100 travellers, including many children, babies and disabled person in a wheelchair, who had stranded on the rocky shores of the Greek island of Samos (case 6). We talked to them at 5.17am and learned that they had alerted the emergency hotlines 100 and 112 already several hours earlier, but that no help had arrived so far. Thus, at 5.25am we alerted the local police via e-mail. Shortly afterwards, our contact person informed us about another 60 travellers who had arrived at the same spot. Despite several attempts, we were not able to reach any of the responsible authorities on the island until 7am. At 7am we reached the port police and were told that they were already searching the group. Afterwards we talked to the travellers again and informed them accordingly. Only at 11.30am we received a confirmation that the evacuation of the group had started.

At 7.30am the Alarm Phone received a message via Facebook, alerting us to a boat in distress close to the Turkish coast on its way to the Greek island of Lesvos (case 7). We were informed that the boat had started to sink, with about 50 people on board. The phones on board were switched off and the travellers had been online on WhatsApp at 5am the latest. We called the Turkish coastguard at 7.35am and forwarded the GPS position and the phone numbers. In another call to the Turkish coastguard at 8.10am we were told that a rescue vessel was searching for the boat. At 8.30am, the Turkish coastguard informed us that the rescue vessel had arrived on the given position and 20 minutes later, at 8.50am the coastguard confirmed the rescue of the boat in distress. However, they refused to tell us if all travellers were fine, but told us that they had been brought to Çeşme/Turkey, what might indicate that they were brought to a hospital. In the afternoon we called the hospital in Çeşme and learned that two travellers had been hospitalized, suffering from hypothermia, but had been released in the meantime. We informed the contact person accordingly and were told that some of the travellers had been beaten by either the coastguard or the police. We tried to get confirmation for this accusation, but did not reach the travellers directly.

At 8.50am we were informed about a boat whose engine had stopped close to the Greek island of Lesvos, with 19 men, 10 women and 7 children on board (case 8). Although we were not able to talk to the travellers directly we called the Greek coastguard, which took the GPS coordinates of the boat in distress and promised to send a rescue vessel to this position. Already at 9.10am we learned from our contact person that the Greek coastguard had rescued the travellers in distress.

At 9.30am the Alarm Phone received a distress call from a contact person, alerting us to a boat in distress between the Turkish coast and the Greek island of Lesvos, the engine of which had stopped (case 9). We called the Greek coastguard in Piraeus immediately afterwards and stayed in touch with the contact person via phone. He updated us regularly on the position of the boat – apparently its engine had started again. Finally, at 10.50am the contact person confirmed to us that the travellers had arrived on Lesvos independently. We informed the Greek coastguard accordingly.

At 12.30pm a contact person forwarded the GPS position and several phone numbers of a group of travellers to us, who had stranded on the Greek island of Pasas, east of Chios (case 10). We were neither able to reach the travellers via phone nor via WhatsApp, but called the port authorities on Chios at 12.50pm, in order to inform them about the group on Pasas. However, we were told that they had already been rescued. In the afternoon, at about 2.30pm, the skipper of a private rescue vessel active in this region confirmed to us that all travellers who had stranded on Pasas had been picked up and transferred to Chios.