Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 27th August 2015

Case name: 2015_08_27-AEG53
Situation: 5 distress situations in the Aegean Sea
Status of WTM Investigations: Concluded
Place of Incidents: Aegean Sea

Summary of the case: On Thursday the 27th of August 2015, the Alarm Phone was alerted to five emergency situations in the Aegean Sea. About 30 minute past midnight we received a call from someone in Germany who informed us about a vessel in distress in Turkish waters. He passed on a phone number with which we immediately called the travellers. We reached a woman who said they were 9 people plus two children at sea and in need of urgent help. Unfortunately she could not tell us where they had left in Turkey. She also stated that she had seen a Greek vessel which, however, had not reacted to their distress situation. She passed on another phone number as well as GPS coordinates which, however, turned out to be incorrect as they showed them on land already. At approximately 00:50am, we were able to establish contact again, via WhatsApp. She could not pass on their GPS position and merely stated that they were in the middle of the sea, at risk of capsizing. At about 1:07am, she said that their vessel was already near Lesvos Island. We then reached out to the Greek coastguards who noted down the information and said that they would get in touch with the vessel themselves. Afterwards, the group could not be reached again. Also in the early morning the travellers could not be contacted. The Greek coastguards, when called at about 8.50am, also could not confirm whether or not the vessel in question had been amongst the many vessels that had been rescued during the night. Finally, in the evening, we were able to speak to them again, via WhatsApp. They said that they had alarmed the Greek coastguards which refused to come to their rescue as they said that they were still in Turkish waters. The Turkish coastguards reacted only very slowly to their distress so that they had to wait at sea for about 7 hours until Turkish authorities rescued them. They were now back in Turkey.

At 8.58am, we were informed by a contact person about a vessel in distress near the Greek island of Samos. We received the GPS position of the vessel and learned that its engine had broken down. Unable to contact the travellers directly, we reached out to the Greek coastguards who forwarded us to the coastguards on Samos Island. At 12.30pm, our contact person informed us that the group had been rescued by Greek authorities.

At 10.24am we were alerted to a third distress case. A contact person told us about a vessel near Farmakonisi Island, Greece, carrying about 40 people. It appeared to be a very urgent emergency situation as they said that they had been attacked. We quickly informed the Greek coastguards about the case. Our contact person said that the vessel was capsizing after having been attacked by a Greek vessel which had fired shots at the vessel. At 10:48am he informed us that Turkish coastguards were on their way to rescue the people. We agreed that he would follow up on the case and monitor the situation. He later also reported that the person steering the vessel had been beaten up.

At 10pm one Alarm Phone member received a distress message and passed it on to our shift team. Following the account of a contact person there was a vessel in distress near the island of Lesvos, Greece. We were, however, unable to get through to the travellers. We reached out to our contact person who was very worried and had lost touch to the group on the vessel. He said that the engine had broken down and that the waves were high- he was scared that the vessel might be capsizing. We informed the Hellenic Rescue Team who promised to contact the Greek coastguards. At about 00:45am, the Hellenic Rescue Team told us that the coastguards had informed them that several vessels were in distress in the same area but he could not tell us anything about the vessel in question. Despite several attempts, the group could never be reached. On the following day, at about 11am, our contact person informed us that, which there was still no news from the people themselves, he had been informed by the Greek coastguards that rescue vessels were in the area. He promised to give us an update if he hears back from the group but contact to him could not be re-established in the aftermath.

When dealing with the 4th emergency situation of the day, a 5th distress call reached our shift team at 11.22pm. Nawal’s activist collective informed us about a vessel in distress and passed on a phone number as well as its GPS position. The group could not be reached. We contacted the Port Authority on Samos Island and they informed us that they were currently working on five emergency cases and could not exactly verify whether the vessel in question was amongst them. They advised us to tell the travellers to call the international emergency number 112. At 1.53am, the Port Authority told us that rescue vessels were at the location of the vessel in distress but they could not confirm whether the rescue operation had been successful already. At 8.14am the Samos Port Authority confirmed that all vessels in that area had been rescued during the night.