Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 11 February 2024
Case name: 2024_02_11 - Eastern Med - 69
Situation: 120 people brought to Cyprus after a pushback attempt
Status of WTM Investigation: closed
Place of Incident: Eastern Med

Summary of the Case:
On February 11 at 19h30 CET, Alarm Phone was contacted by relatives about a boat that was near Cyprus, south of Ayia Napa, and was prevented to land by Cypriot Coast Guards. There were 120 people from Syria onboard, including 10 woman and 15 children. After talking to the people on board of the boat, we alerted the authorities by email at 20h15 about the distress. We also called the Cypriot Coast Guards, the Cyprus Port and Marine Police, and the UK Military Base in Cyprus, to ask for information and recalled that the people have the right to claim asylum. We made the case public on X/Twitter, and kept in touch with the people onboard.
The next day, at 7h40 in the morning, we called again JRCC Larnaca: the officer on duty said that the people were 'handled' by the border marine police. When we called the Cyprus Port and Marine Police, they told us that the people were fine but refused to share more information with us, and we feared that a pushback could had happened. As we lost contact to the people on the boat, we asked formally confirmation of the information to all authorities by email. During the day, we kept trying to get answers from various actors, including the UNHCR.
At 19h30, an officer from the Port and Marine Police confirmed on the phone that the people were brought to a village, but nor them nor the Central Police in Nikosia told us about the whereabouts and location of the group. We then learned that Cyprus first tried to push the people back to Lebanon before accepting them, because the Lebanese authorities prevented them to enter Lebanese waters.
On February 13 at 08:46, an officer of the Central Port and Marine Police told us that the group was taken to a refugee camp on the island, which relatives confirmed later in the morning.