Alarm Phone alerted to 6 emergency situations in the Aegean Sea, near Farmakonisi, Agathonisi, Samos and Lesvos

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 11th of November 2015

Case name: 2015_11_11-AEG126
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 6 distress cases in the Aegean Sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Wednesday the 11th of November 2015, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 6 emergency situations in the Aegean Sea. Two groups in distress were rescued by Turkish coastguards, another two groups (presumably) by Greek coastguards. Two groups had stranded on Greek islands and were rescued.

At 3.20am, a man calling from Belgium informed us about a group of 35 travellers on a vessel in the Aegean Sea, still in Turkish waters (case 1). When we informed the Turkish coastguard, they stated that they had already been alerted to the same distress case. They had rescued the travellers who were brought back to Turkey.

At 4.30am we were called by someone in the Czech Republic who told us about a group of 50 people who had stranded on the island of Samos and needed support (case 2). We were unable to contact the group directly but, a few hours later, our initial contact person confirmed that they had been found.

We were then informed shortly afterwards about a vessel in distress near Lesvos Island (case 3). We passed the coordinates on to the Greek coastguards who confirmed that they would search and rescue the people.

At 5.10am we were alerted to a distress situation in Turkish waters concerning a vessel seeking to reach Agathonisi/Greece (case 4). When we contacted the Turkish coastguards they confirmed that they already knew about this case and one of their vessels would soon rescue them. Their rescue was confirmed to us at 6.44am.

An hour later, at 6.10am we learned about a distress case near Lesvos Island (case 5). We informed the Greek coastguards who confirmed that they would go and rescue as soon as possible. Afterwards the Greek coastguards were very uncooperative and refused to confirm the outcome of their search and rescue mission. At 8.20am our initial contact person confirmed the rescue of the travellers.

At 2.16pm we were informed by a contact person to a group of about 80 people who had stranded on Farmakonisi Island/Greece (case 6). We informed the Port Authority on Leros Island who said that they would look into the situation. For many hours, no new information could be gathered until 10.16pm when the Port Authority confirmed that they had sent out a boat to Farmakonisi that would transfer the group.