Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 8th of February 2024 

Case name: 2024_02_08-EASTERN MED - 064

Situation: 49 people near Lesvos, phones taken and pushed back by Hellenic CG, found by Turkish CG

Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Eastern Med

Summary of the Case:
In the evening of the 8th of February, Alarm Phone was contacted by a concerned relative, alerting us to a group of 45 people, including 15 children, in distress near the Greek island Lesvos. The caller related that some of them were injured and in need of urgent medical assistance and sent us a GPS position. We tried to establish direct contact to the boat but could not reach them.

At 20:22 CET we sent an email to inform Greek authorities, Frontex and NGOs on the island of the group’s situation and location, informing them that the people needed medical attention and wanted to claim asylum in Greece.

About 30 minutes later the relative told us that the Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG) had found the boat and had collected all phones. They also sent us a voice message from a person on the boat on which you can hear the Coast Guard calling for mobile phones. We were not sure whether they would rescue the group to land or push them back.

At 22:00 CET we called the Turkish Coast Guard (TCG), they have had two alerts, one in Greek and one in Turkish waters but no details yet.

At 22:55 CET we called the HCG in Piraeus. The officer told us that they had looked and did not find a boat at the position we gave them. This is a sentence we have heard so many times before and usually we find the boat then pushed back to Turkish Waters, the people often attacked and robbed of their engine and, like in this case, their phones.

We still were not able to establish communication to the group.

At 01:20 CET on the 9th of February we called the TCG, an officer told us they had rescued a boat with about 27 people but the other boat had been rescued by the HCG.

At 01:28 CET we called the HCG, they denied that they had rescued the boat but just informed the TCG about a boat in Turkish waters.

At 01:38 CET we called back the TCG, who confirmed that they had received the information on the boat by the HCG and would send a rescue boat.

At 03:37 CET we called again the TCG, but the officer did non know yet the details of the operation, we agree to call back in the morning.

At 08:54 CET we called the TCG, they had found 49 people, including 26 children, on two life rafts northeast of Lesvos at 02:30 CET. As our information on the the exact number of people or children are often not perfectly accurate, this matches our case.