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

Case name: 2017_11_16-AEG320
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to boat in distress near the Greek island of Lesvos, with 40 persons on board, including 15 children, all rescued
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Thursday the 16th of November 2017, at 5.06am, a contact person provided the Alarm Phone with the phone number and GPS position of 40 travellers in distress in the Aegean Sea, close to the Greek island of Lesvos. Ten minutes later, we called the Greek coastguard on Lesvos, who knew already about the case but asked us to forward the boat’s latest position. At 5.30am and again at 5.40am, we tried to call the travellers directly, but did not reach them. At 5.56am, we talked again to the Greek coastguard and were told that the boat had just been rescued, with many children on board. At 6am, we informed our contact person about the rescue and agreed to try to get a confirmation from the travellers themselves, as he was afraid that they had been picked up by a Frontex vessel. Although we did not reach the travellers directly, at 11.20am, the contact person confirmed to us that the boat he had been in contact with had indeed been rescued and that all travellers were fine. We forwarded the Welcome to Europe Guide for Greece to them, both in English and in Arabic.