Watch
The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 28th of March 2021
Case
name: 20210328-AEG777
Situation:
40 travelers (among them women, men, children) in distress north of
Lesvos, rescued by Turkish coastguard and brought back to Turkey.
Status
of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place
of Incident: Aegean Sea



Summary
of the Case:

On the 28th of March 2021 at 03h54 CET, the Alarm Phone received a call from the brother of a woman on a boat in distress. He was worried for the 40 people on the water. He forwarded us a phone number from the travelers. At 04h07 CET, 04h12 CET and 04h17 CET, he forwarded us three GPS locations of the boat north of Lesvos. The positions moved from Greek waters and the Greek Search and Rescue zone, into the Turkish zone. He said that on the boat, there was his mom, his sister, his wife and their baby. At 04h24 CET, we reached the travelers, but communication was not clear. Both, the relative who had alerted us and the travelers confirmed they were in distress, so our shift team alerted the authorities via e-mail. At 04h45 CET, we tried to call the Turkish coastguard, but no one picked up the phone. At 04h50 CET, we reached them and they confirmed the receipt of our mail and that they would launch the rescue operation. At 04h56 CET, we informed the relative about this. We could not get through to the travelers. At 06h52 CET, we called the Turkish coastguard and they confirmed the rescue of the 40 travelers.