Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 16th of February 2016

Case name: 2016_02_16-AEG209
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 7 distress cases in the Aegean, near Lesvos, Samos, Pasas and Farmakonisi‬‬
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Tuesday, the 16th of February 2016, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 7 cases of distress in the Aegean Sea - 4 situations of distress at sea and 3 cases, in which travellers had stranded on Greek islands (Pasas, Samos, and Farmakonisi). Three of the boats in distress were rescued by the Turkish Coastguard. In one case, we could not get a final confirmation of the rescue. The travellers stranded on Pasas were picked up on Wednesday morning by the Chios Port Authorities. The 60 persons stranded on Samos were brought to a shelter by a Transfer Service of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF). Among them were many children and one severely disabled child. The people stranded on Farmakonisi - there were about 300 - were picked up on Wednesday morning and brought to Leros.

Case 1: At 1.34am, we were alerted to a boat in distress between Dikili, Turkey and Mytilene Lesvos, Greece. As it seemed urgent, we immediately reached out to the Port Authority of Mytilene, who told us to call the Turkish Coastguard (in Izmir). The Turkish Coastguard was already informed about the case and said that they were about to start the rescue operation. At 3am, we tried to call the travellers, but could not reach them, so we called the Turkish Coastguard again - we did not reach the office in Izmir, but the one in Ankara. They told us that they had also been in touch with the boat and that a Turkish Coastguard boat had found them. But the boat had passed on to the Greek side, when they came. The Turkish Coastguard had informed their Greek colleagues. Throughout the morning, we tried to reach out to the travellers, but without success. At 8.30am, a man finally picked up the phone. He told us that all travellers had survived and that they were back in Turkey.

Case 2: At quarter to 3am, we were informed about a group of about 45 travellers, headed to Samos, who had run out of fuel, still being in Turkish waters. We could not reach them, but our contact person had talked to them and they had told him that they wanted to go back to Turkey. At 4.27am, we called the Turkish Coastguard. They knew about the case, but told us to call the Greek coastguard, as the boat had supposedly already moved on. At 5.24am our contact person informed that, after all, the Turkish Coastguard had rescued the group.

Case 3: Two hours after the third alert, at quarter to five in the morning, we were informed about 40 travellers somewhere near Lesvos (we did not get any coordinates). We reached out to the travellers and they explained that they had started from Ayvalik and believed to be about 5km from Lesvos. We sent them the emergency numbers of the Coastguard. After this we did not hear back from the travellers and could not reach them anymore.

Case 4: At 7pm, a contact person informed us about a boat heading towards the small island of Pasas and asked us to call the Chios Port Authority. However, the coordinates he sent us were in Turkish waters. At quarter to 8pm, the travellers had arrived on Pasas. We informed the Port Authority on Chios that a group of travellers had arrived on Pasas. We hoped that the group would be picked up right away, but it seemed that help would only be sent the next morning. Our contact person advised the people on the island to move to the island's small church to stay warm or to make a fire on the beach. At 4.13am, a second contact person messaged us about the same case, asking us if help was coming soon, as the people were suffering from the cold. He also told us that the people had encountered military staff, but that the later had not provided any help, just yelled at the people. At 8am a third person contacted us about the case. He told us that his brother was one of the travellers stuck on Pasas. They were about 40 persons and had spent the night on top of a mountain waiting for help. On Wednesday, at 10.30 he confirmed to us that the group had been rescued.

Case 5: At 8:40pm, United Rescues called us about 60 persons stranded on Samos. Our contact person from United Rescue had already tried to call the police on Samos and Medicins Sans Frontières (MSF), but no one had picked up the phone. We called the Samos Port Authority, who gave us the number of a police station that was supposedly open during the night However, when we tried to call there, we didn't reach anyone. At 9:31pm our United Rescue contact person called us again, because she had finally reached the MSF Transfer Service on Samos, who had promised to search for the people. At 11.42pm she informed us that MSF had picked up the group and brought them to a shelter. Among them had been many children and one severely disabled child.

Cases 6 and 7: At 11.49pm, we received a WhatsApp message about 50 persons in distress on the way to Farmakonisi (Case 6). They had problems with their engine. We sent them information on how to start an overheated engine and a message, asking them about their situation, which however did not reach them.
At 11.55pm we were alerted to 120 people stranded on Farmakonisi (Case 7). We called the port authorities of Leros, who already knew about the people on Farmakonisi. They said that that they would pick them up, but not before the next day. In case of emergency, the people on Farmakonisi should call 112. As a backup, we also sent an e-mail about the case to several aid organizations. At 0.57am our contact person told us that six boats had arrived on Farmakonisi in the last two hours, so that now about 300 persons were on the island. We asked him if everyone was doing ok and if the boat with the engine troubles (case 6) was among those that had made it to the island. Our contact person promised to find out. At 1.35am he wrote us that he had not managed to get in touch with the people on the boat and that his contacts on the island did not know about a boat with engine problems. However, they said that a boat with 40 persons had just arrived. At 4.46am our Whatsapp message to the people of the boat in distress were finally delivered. They had been online again around 4am. At 9am, we reached them and it sounded as if they were on land. We asked a translator to help us communicate and he confirmed that the people of case 6 had been rescued to Turkey.
At 1.11am our contact person wrote us that the people on the island (case 7) were all in good health, but that among them were pregnant women. At 1.17am we sent a second e-mail to the Greek Coastguard and the aid organizations about the increased number of people and that there were pregnant women among them. In a reply to our e-mail, a person from MOAS told us that they were under Kos Port Authority and that they could not go to Farmakonisi, as other vessels were closer. On Wednesday morning between 8am and 11am we tried several times to reach the people on the island, but without success. At 11.25am the Leros Port Authority finally confirmed that they had picked up all the people on Farmakonisi and had brought them to Leros.