Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations - 18th of August 2015

Case name: 2015_08_18-AEG46
Situation: Three vessels in distress. Rescue of vessel near Samos presumed. Rescue of two vessels near Lesvos confirmed.
Status of WTM Investigations: Concluded
Place of Incidents: Aegean Sea

Summary of the case: On Tuesday the 18th of August 2015, the Alarm Phone was contacted by Nawal Soufi’s activist collective at around 9am. They told us about a group of travellers who were in distress and passed on their GPS location as well as a phone number which, however, could not be reached. The group was near the island of Samos..At about 9:54am the Greek coastguards informed us that the authorities on Samos Island were responsible for the case. For several hours we contacted various Greek border authorities who were either uncooperative or not responsive to our requests. At about 1.34pm, the Greek coastguards informed us that they could not find a vessel in the given position but that it might have already reached Samos Island in the meantime.

In the late evening, at around 11.15pm, we were contacted by someone who knew of two vessels in the Aegean Sea, close to Lesvos Island, Greece. He passed on the coordinates of the vessels as well as two mobile phone numbers. Despite trying several times, the travellers could again not be reached. After passing the coordinates on to the Greek authorities they confirmed that they had been alerted already to a case in the same area about 30 minutes earlier. They stated that the travellers had already reached Lesvos Island. Shortly after midnight, our contact person confirmed the safe arrival of the group in Greece.