Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 25th of September 2015

Case name: 2015_09_25-AEG81
Situation: 5 distress cases in the Aegean Sea, near Lesvos, Farmakonisi, and Chios
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Friday the 25th of September 2015, the Alarm Phone was alerted to five cases of distress in the Aegean Sea, close to the Greek islands of Lesvos, Farmakonisi, and Chios.

The 1st distress case was forwarded to the Alarm Phone by Nawal Soufi's activist collective at 2.30am. The distress call had been sent twelve minutes earlier by a boat in Turkish waters, South of Lesvos. We could not reach the travellers directly, but informed the Turkish coastguard, as our contact persons said that it was urgent. The Turkish coastguard promised help, but a few minutes later we received another message saying that the boat had already been rescued by the Greek coastguard. We immediately passed on this information to the Turkish coastguard.

At 4.40am a 2nd alert reached us by a supporter group about a vessel with 34 passengers in danger of sinking. We could not reach the travellers but located them near Farmakonisi on the border between Greek and Turkish territorial waters. We first called the Greek coastguard, who told us that the boat was in Turkish waters. We thus informed the Turkish coastguard, who promised help. One hour later the coastguard told us that one of their boats had just rescued a vessel with 30 to 40 persons on board, close to the last position we had given them. We could however not get a final confirmation from our contact person if the vessel carrying 34 travellers had been saved.

At 6.15am, the same support group that had alerted us about the third case forwarded us a 3rd distress call of a vessel in Turkish waters going towards Lesvos, carrying 40 persons. The support group transmitted us the coordinates of the boat's position but an incomplete number. We contacted the Turkish coastguard and the UNHCR about the case. At 8am we contacted the support group, who told us that the boat had not been rescued and was moving slowly due to high waves. At 4.35pm the support group confirmed that the travellers made it to Lesvos.

At 8am, we received a message about a 4th distress situation in the Aegean Sea. A contact person told us about a rowing boat with four passengers that was about to sink near the Greek island of Chios, with some travellers already in the water. We immediately contacted the Greek coastguard, who promised to rescue. A few minutes later the contact person sent us an updated position. We were confused, as it seemed impossible that the boat in question had moved from one position to the next. Ten minutes later the Greek coastguard confirmed the rescue of 2 persons. At 10.40am the contact person explained that there were actually 2 boats with 2 passengers each and that all four travellers had safely arrived in Greece. The passengers who had not been rescued by the Greek coastguard had reached land by themselves.