Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 16th of October 2020
Case name: 2019_10_16-AEG714
Situation: 6 people stranded near the Greek-Turkish land border, fate unclear.
Status of WTM Investigation: Ongoing
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

On 16 October, we were contacted by a relative of a group of travelers. The group of travelers was composed of three adults and three children. They were all from Syria. They had been stuck for seven days and without food and water, after crossing the landborder from Turkey to Greece. We also able to get a phone number of the group.

We made contact with the travelers at 14:15 CEST. We explained to them how to contact the police and asked them for an up-to-date position.

We received that information and also names, dates of birth and photographs that showed that they were Greece. After doublechecking
with the group, we forwarded it to Alexandroupolis Regional Centre for Integrated Border Management & Migration, which is part of Frontex, and the UNHCR. We also contacted the local police station in Sapes.

We spent the next 24 hours phoning the local police stations and the group. The police kept promising us that they had sent a patrol car to go and look for the people. We know, because people sent us photographs, that they
had made themselves conspicuous by the side of the road. If the police sent a patrol car, it would appear that they failed to find the group. It is possible that the group was picked up and arrested, but the police chose to conceal that information.

The next 24 hours were spent trying to get in touch with the people, who had either run out of battery or had their phones confiscated, and being given contradictory information by the police.

We eventually decided that there was no more than we could do. We are still investigating and will include any developments in this report.