Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 16th of March 2017

Case name: 2017_03_16-AEG280
Situation: Alarmphone in contact with 12 travellers stranded on Greek island of Pasas; rescued to Chios
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Thursday the 16th of March 2017 at 1.30am, a contact person forwarded the phone number and GPS position of a group in distress to us, who had stranded on the tiny Greek island of Pasas. At 1.45am, we established direct contact to the group and received an updated position. At 2am, we called the Greek coastguard in Piraeus and asked them to rescue the travellers from the uninhabited island. At 2.09am, the contact person informed us, that the travellers were moving in the direction of the well-visible church on the island of Pasas. We asked him to provided us with updated GPS information as soon as they have arrived there. At 2.17am, we sent an email to the Greek coastguard, confirming the information we had already forwarded via phone. At 4.05am, we talked again with the contact person and informed him, that the coastguard might only pick up the travellers after sunrise. At 6.30am, another contact person informed us about the same group. At 6.42am, we talked to the Greek coastguard again and they confirmed to us that the group of 12 travellers had been picked up and brought to the island of Chios. Afterwards, we informed both contact person and forwarded a link to the Welcome 2 Europe guide to the travellers.