09/1/2016: Alarm Phone alerted to 15 cases of distress in the Aegean

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 6th of January 2016

Case name: 2016_01_09-AEG178
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 15 cases in the Aegean
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: In the night from Friday to Saturday and during the day of Saturday the 9th of January 2016, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 15 cases of distress in the Aegean Sea with about 500-600 travellers involved. In five cases, travellers had stranded on Greek islands, namely on Pasas, Farmakonisi and Kastellorizo. In all cases the stranded travellers were picked up, even though some had to wait until Sunday. The other ten cases concerned boats in distress near the islands of Samos, Chios, Lesvos, Agathonisi and Nera. In all but two cases the safe arrival of the travellers in Greece could be confirmed, some boats even made it to Greece without any assistance. In two cases, we could not obtain a final confirmation whether the boats had really arrived safely.
Case 1: At quarter to midnight, we received an alert on Facebook concerning a group of 18 persons who had stranded on the deserted Greek island of Pasas. We forwarded the alert to the Greek authorities and several support organizations. At 2am, the Chios Port Authority picked up the group and brought them to Oinousses, as the Port Authority confirmed to us.
Case 2: A few minutes after the first alert, just before midnight, another Facebook alert reached us concerning a boat in distress near Samos, carrying 13 passengers. We immediately reached out to the Greek Coastguard. Later our contact person, who was in direct contact with the travellers, informed us via Facebook that the boat had been rescued to Samos.
Case 3: At half past midnight, a contact person alerted us to a boat in distress East of Chios, with 45 persons on board, including about 20 children. We called the Greek Coastguard and sent an e-mail about the boat. We did not hear back from the contact person until the morning. Then she told us that she had lost contact with the boat. We also tried to get in touch with the boat, but without success. The contact number we had was not reachable.

Case 4: Just before 1am, we were informed via WhatsApp about stranded travellers in the South of the Greek military island Farmakonisi. We informed the Greek authorities, who picked up the group at 7am, as the contact person confirmed to us in the morning.

Case 5: At 2am, a contact person sent us a WhatsApp message about a boat with a broken engine east of Lesvos with 45 persons on board. We called the Greek Coastguard and sent an Email to the UNHCR. We tried to contact the travellers via WhatsApp, but could not reach them. The contact person eventually informed us that the travellers had arrived safely on Lesvos.

Case 6: At 2:21am we were informed about a boat in distress that had started from Izmir in the early morning and was heading to Lesvos. We could not reach the travellers, but called the Turkish Coastguard, who had carried out a rescue operation, but not in the same area. Eventually the contact person confirmed that the travellers had arrived safely.

Case 7: At quarter to 6am, we received a WhatsApp alert about a distress case involving 44 travellers in a boat east of Nera. We called the Greek Coastguard, who told us to call the Turkish. We thus called the Turkish Coastguard and sent an Email to the UNHCR in Greece and Turkey. At 6.47 the travellers told our contact person that the Coastguard had still not arrived. After that, the contact person lost contact with the boat. We also could not reach the travellers. At 8.30am we asked the Turkish Coastguard about the boat. They informed us that the boat had arrived in Agathonisi without assistance. This information was later confirmed by our contact person.

Case 8: At 7.20am an Alarm Phone member forwarded a voice message to the shift team: it was a distress call from a boat with 40 persons close to Agathonisi. The shift team did not reach the boat, but established contact to the person, who had forwarded the distress call to the Alarm Phone and who was not on the boat. The contact person had already informed the Greek Coast Guard, but was uncertain, whether the Coast guard had started a rescue operation or not. At 7.48am the contact person gave us an update on the situation on board: the engine was still running, but the boat was leaking and water was coming in. At 7.55am we called the Greek Coast Guard with the latest coordinates. At noon, we finally got the confirmation from the contact person that the travellers had arrived safely in Agathonisi. He did not say, how the travellers had reached the island.

Case 9: Throughout the day, we were alerted to three or four boats close to Chios, each with about 40 passengers. In all but one case, the travellers reached Chios without any assistance. In one case, we did not get a final confirmation of the travellers' safe arrival.

Case 10: Around 10.30am we received several calls about a boat in distress east of Lesvos with about 60 passengers. We asked the travellers to call the Greek Coastguard. However, according to one contact person, the travellers had already tried to call the Greek Coast Guard, and no one had answered. Hence, we informed the Greek Coast Guard. At 11.30am the Coastguard explained that they had sent a patrol boat to the area in question, but had not encountered a boat. The Coast Guard officer told us, however, that a lot of boats had arrived in Lesvos without assistance. Whether the boat with 60 passengers was among those boats, which arrived, we could not confirm, because we could not establish any contact with the travellers afterwards.

Case 11: On Saturday evening, we received a distress call about a second group of travellers stranded on Farmakonisi. They were about 45 persons with six children among them and an elderly man with health problems. We immediately informed the Port Authority of Leros. They promised to pick up that group on Sunday morning. We asked the contact person to get back to us in case that the group would not be picked up as promised. On Sunday morning, at 10am, we called the contact person to confirm whether the group had been picked up. He did not have any news form the travellers, but promised to contact them. A few minutes later, the contact person sent us two contact numbers of people on the island and a picture showing them still waiting to be picked up. At 10.20am we called the Port Authorities. They said that they would send two boats. At 1.45pm we called them again and they declared that "the island was empty". Unfortunately, we could not confirm this information, as the contact person had no news from the travellers and as we were not in direct contact with them.

Case 12: At 8:45pm we were informed about a group of stranded travellers on Pasas: 12 adults and 5 children were stuck on the island without food and water. We called the Chios Port Authorities, who promised to send a boat. We also let the stranded travellers know that we informed the Coast Guard. Around midnight, we called the Coast Guard again, but they could not tell us when exactly the group would be picked up. At 3am the travellers are still on the island, freezing and waiting. The Coast Guard told us that they had looked for, but not encountered the group. We gave them the latest position. Half an hour later, we called the Coast Guard again and insisted they continue their search. On Sunday morning, at 8am, the contact person told us that the Coast Guard had still not reached the group. We called the travellers who confirmed that they were still waiting. They had stayed all night in the same spot, but decided to move to a different spot in the morning - a church on a hill. We agreed to call them back in one hour. At 11am we tried again to call them, but no one answered the phone. We thus called the Port Authority who said that they had encountered the group and that they had been in touch with the group before and had agreed to meet by the church on the hill.

Case 13: At 9:30pm, we were informed about a group of 17 persons, with 4 children, who had stranded on Kastellorizo. We called the Port Police, who was already informed about the case and promised to search for the group. Around midnight, our contact person confirmed that the group had been picked up.

Case 14: Also on Saturday evening, we were informed about 50 travellers on a Yacht close to the Turkish Coast. We were told that the driver had left them alone. At 9.45 we called the Turkish Coastguard, who was quite irritated about our call, as we were the third party to call them about the same case. On Sunday morning, the Turkish Coastguard told us that the boat had been rescued by the Greek Coastguard.