Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 20th of January 2024
Case name: 2024_01_20-EASTERN MED - 30
Situation: 24 people landed on Farmakonisi, 4 children fell into the water during landing and remain missing. The other 20 people were found by Greek authorities.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Eastern Med

Summary of the Case:
In the evening of the 20th January, Alarm Phone received a call from a concerned relative, alerting us to a group of 21 people (including 14 men, 3 women, and 4 children) in distress on Farmakonisi island. At the time of the alert, the caller related that all the people needed urgent help. They told us that some people had fallen into the water and were still missing. We established direct contact with the people and they sadly confirmed that when landing their boat, 4 children went overboard and were missing. They were currently searching for them. Other people in the group were injured and many of them were suffering badly from hypothermia. We alerted the authorities by email at 18:43 CET. We also called the Greek Coast guard directly and asked them to begin the rescue operation as quickly as possible. The people confirmed that Greek authorities arrived, then we lost contact with the group. Late that evening, the port authority of Leros confirmed that they had found 20 people but we could not confirm if this included the four missing children.

The next day we learned through media reports that the 20 people that were found did not include the four children, who remain missing. We were never able to establish contact to the group again.