Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 15th of May 2024
Case name: 2024_05_15-Eastern Med - 195
Situation: 21 people taken by merchant vessel to Egypt, in forced disembarkation coordinated by Hellenic Coast Guard
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Eastern Med

Summary of the Case:
During the early evening of May 15th, the Alarm Phone was in contact with 21 people in distress between Libya and the Greek island of Crete. They said they had already been at sea for two nights. They reported high waves around them and were calling for urgent assistance. At 18:47 CEST, we informed authorities in the area, including the Italian, the Maltese, the Greek, and the Libyan MRCC. Shortly after, we sent them an update to inform them that water was entering the boat and reiterated the urgent request for assistance.
At 20:08 CEST, we sent an email to the nearby merchant vessel SKAIA 1, to ask for immediate support. At 21:59 CEST, the so-called Libyan coast guard said on the phone that they would not send a boat for assistance, as by the time they would have reached the boat in distress, they would already be in Greek waters. At 00:35 CEST, the Hellenic Coast Guard claimed that they had sent a vessel to the last known position, but that they had not found anybody. We could not confirm this information independently. At 03:08 CEST the next day, we received a new position from the people, which we immediately shared with the Hellenic Coast Guard. Some hours later, the Hellenic Coast Guard told us on the phone that the people were safe and were onboard a merchant vessel called the “Athens Voyager”. We later found out that the vessel was sailing towards Port Said, in Egypt. This was alarming, as Egypt is no safe place for people on the move and any return would be a forced disembarkation, coordinated by the Hellenic Coast Guard despite Crete being the closest port of safety. During the morning, we managed to talk to the Egpytian authorities who confirmed the information that the 21 people were onboard the Athens Voyager which was heading towards Port Said.
We informed the company of the merchant vessel about the grave concerns for the safety of disembarking survivors in Egypt. We underlined that this country is not considered as safe, either as a country of origin for asylum seekers, or for third countries nationals in transit through Egypt.
We outlined the following: “According to Human Rights Watch during 2022, Egyptian authorities and security forces subjected refugees and asylum seekers to arbitrary detention, physical abuse, and refoulement—forced returns to a country where individuals may face threats to their lives or freedom, torture, or other serious harm. Egypt is a party to the 1951 UN and 1969 African (OAU) refugee conventions and the 1984 Convention against Torture, which prohibit refoulement.”
On the phone, the company of the merchant vessel confirmed that they were aware of the situation in Egypt but said that they acted according to the coordination of the Hellenic Coast Guard. We intervened at different levels to try and prevent the forced diesmbarkation in Egypt. We talked to the Hellenic Coast Guard, the captain of the Athens Voyager and the Egyptian authorities. Unfortunately, we were not successful. The next evening, the Athens Voyager arrived in Port Said. We condemned this forced disembarkation to Egypt on Twitter and closed the case afterwards::

The ATHENS VOYAGER has arrived in Port Said. We denounce their return to a place they tried to escape from. According to our information, the operation was coordinated by @HCoastGuard who ordered disembarkation in #Egypt, despite #Crete being the closest port!

All tweets:
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1790788550012670123
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1791013380234305717
https://twitter.com/alarm_phone/status/1791057343058223554
https://x.com/alarm_phone/status/1791135366457463135 
https://x.com/alarm_phone/status/1791495830592946226 
https://x.com/alarm_phone/status/1791739388558254133