World News Online Information Alarm Phone Weekly Report 20-27th of July‏

WatchTheMed Alarm Phone weekly report, 20-27th of July 2015

On Monday the 20th of July, the Alarm Phone was alerted to a group of
about 40 travellers who were already on Samos Island but disoriented and
in distress. We notified authorities in Greece, including the UNHCR and
passed on the location of the travellers. As the group was in a very
remote place, the UNHCR suggested that not the police but the
coastguards might be able to reach them. After several conversations
with the travellers, communication broke down and could not be
re-established. While their rescue cannot be conclusively confirmed, it
can be assumed. On the same day, Nawal Soufi’s activist collective told
us about an emergency case at sea and forwarded phone numbers as well as
coordinates of the passengers. The travellers could not be reached.
Later on, MSRCC Ankara stated that their coastguards had rescued the
vessel (see:
http://watchthemed.net/index.php/reports/view/177).

Also on Monday, the Alarm Phone was contacted by Nawal Soufi’s activist
collective as well as Father Mussie Zerai about two different distress
situations in the Central Mediterranean Sea. We could not reach the
passengers on either of the two vessels and informed the Italian
Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Rome, the UNHCR and
civilian rescue services. In the early evening MRCC Rome informed us
that both vessels had been rescued. Vessel 1, carried 254 people and
vessel 2 about 101 travellers (see:
http://watchthemed.net/index.php/reports/view/179).

On Thursday the 23rd of July, the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by
Nawal’s collective to three distress cases in the Aegean Sea. We learned
about a vessel from Egypt carrying 250 people, another vessel with 71
people on board and a third one with an unknown number of travellers. It
was later confirmed to us that all vessels were rescued/intercepted by
Turkish authorities. Due to the limited information we had about all
three vessels in distress, we cannot conclusively state whether the
actions of the Turkish coastguards can be classified as rescue
operations or interceptions (see:
http://watchthemed.net/index.php/reports/view/178).

Also on Thursday, our shift team dealt with two emergency situations in
the Central Mediterranean Sea. It was there that, one day earlier, about
40 people had drowned when trying to cross the sea. Following accounts
of some of the survivors, their vessel had capsized soon after leaving
the Libyan coast on Wednesday. At least seven children were amongst
those who went missing and are presumed dead. A day after this tragedy
our Alarm Phone was contacted by Father Mussie Zerai who alerted us to
450 people in distress. Despite several attempts, we could not reach
them but were able to upload credit onto their satellite phone so that
they could continue to make use of it. A few hours later we learned,
through the civilian rescue vessel Sea Watch about another distress
situation. MRCC Rome then confirmed that both vessels had been localised
and rescue operations were being carried out. In the evening, at around
10.30pm, our shift team turned to the Maltese coastguards who finally
confirmed that the passengers from both vessels had been rescued (see:
http://watchthemed.net/reports/view/180).

On the same day (and potentially concerning the second vessel that the
Alarm Phone had sought to contact), the Sea Watch supported the cargo
vessel ‘Shaya’ in a rescue operation. They took on 104 people, including
25 women and 3 little children. The crew of the Shaya did their very
best in these precarious circumstances to care for the boat-people.
However, they were not adequately equipped to fully support the weakened
travellers and so it was important to quickly disembark the passengers
in Italy. When the Shaya arrived in Sicily they were made to wait for
more than 24 hours before being allowed to disembark. It is wholly
unacceptable that Italian authorities, which coordinated the rescue
operation and advised the crew of the Shaya to intervene in the first
place, unnecessarily delayed disembarkation and therewith the medical
care the travellers desperately needed. Moreover, it is absolutely
inadequate that commercial vessels need to conduct these rescue
operations while there are dozens of fully equipped naval vessels of the
EU military mission Eunavfor Med and the Frontex operation Triton in the
Central Mediterranean Sea.

On Sunday the 26th, the Alarm Phone received an emergency call from a
vessel in distress in the Aegean Sea that carried between 40 to 50
people. They had left Cesme/Turkey and were on their way to Chios/Greece
and said that they had problems with their engine and with water
entering their vessel. They were able to pass on a GPS position to our
shift team. The Greek coastguards were reluctant to engage as they said
that the passengers were still in Turkish waters and they also stated
that there were 35 distress cases in the Aegean Sea. The situation
became more and more dramatic with passengers starting to panic and
agreeing to be rescued by Turkish coastguards. They said that one person
had fallen over board and that their vessel was capsizing. The Turkish
authorities then agreed to start a search and rescue operation. A few
hours later, the travellers were rescued by Turkey, including the person
who had fallen into the water. We were then alerted to a second group
that had already been returned to Turkey and were at a police station.
We talked to them and they reported that they had been at sea for about
3 hours, close to the island of Chios, when they were stopped by armed
Special Forces of the Greek coastguard. They were brought back to Turkey
and left alone after the Special Forces had taken away their engine.
They agreed to prepare all the details about their experience and we
will document this incident in detail. Later on, more accounts of these
violent practices emerged in the Turkish media. Other groups recounted
how they were approached by masked Greek coastguards who punctured their
vessels and left them behind in distress at sea. On the same day we had
a third case from the same region in the Aegean Sea. A group had
stranded on a very small island between Cesme (Turkey) and Chios
(Greece). They had run out of food and water. The Turkish authorities
were already investigating their case and the travellers confirmed their
rescue a few hours later (see for all three cases:
http://watchthemed.net/reports/view/182).

Sunday evening we also learned about a case of distress near the Greek
island of Lesvos. We were contacted by someone on land who knew of a
vessel carrying about 40 people. They had lost orientation and needed
support. Our shift team alerted both Greek and Turkish coastguards to
the situation of distress. It became clear that the Greek coastguards
were angered that the Alarm Phone contacted them about a vessel that was
presumably still in Turkish waters. They stated that our actions would
cause ‘diplomatic trouble’ between Turkey and Greece. But at least they
also confirmed that the Turkish coastguards were searching for the
vessel. At approximately 10:30pm, Turkish authorities confirmed the
rescue of the group of travellers. A few minutes later, members of the
group also confirmed their rescue (see:
http://watchthemed.net/reports/view/183).

On Monday the 27th, in the early morning, a person contacted us and
reported that he had knowledge of a vessel with 54 people on board,
amongst them 10-15 children that had been stopped by the Greek police or
coastguards. Following his account, the police had boarded vessel, taken
away the engine and then punctured the vessel, leaving them behind at
sea. We spoke one of the passengers and she said that water was entering
the vessel and, due to the many screams in the background, it was clear
that people were panicking. We alerted the Greek coastguards and the
Hellenic Rescue team who were both not very cooperative and merely
suggested that we should tell the travellers to call 112. Our contact
person asked us to inform the Turkish coastguard which, in a phone
conversation, promised that they would begin a rescue operation. A few
hours later, the contact person informed us that the vessel had been
found and its passengers rescued. It was reported later also in the
Turkish media that an attack by Greek border authorities had occurred in
the Aegean Sea, following accounts of survivors who very likely belonged
to the group that the Alarm Phone had supported. They said that about
4-5 Greek coastguards or police officers, all masked, entered their
vessel and took their petrol and their engine. Water started to leak
into their vessel and they had to wait for one and a half hours until
the Turkish came to their rescue. This was the second time in merely two
days that those in contact with the Alarm Phone had reported of these
kind of attacks by masked Greek authorities. The Turkish media referred
to them as the ‘masked fight against refugees in Greece’. During our
investigations we found another report by the Infomobile/Welcome to
Europe that also spoke of these violent border practices: a boat with 54
Syrian refugees including 7 children on board had been punctured this
weekend by the Greek coastguard close to Lesvos. This occurred during an
operation in which a Frontex vessel was involved. The vessel immediately
started to sink and the travellers fell into the water. After some time,
struggling for survival in the sea, they were finally taken on board of
the Greek coastguard vessel (see:
http://watchthemed.net/reports/view/183).

On Monday the 27th, we were contacted by 7 passengers on a vessel in
distress in the Western Mediterranean Sea. They had left Cap Spartel in
Morocco and were in an emergency situation with water entering the
vessel. In a phone conversation with Salvamento Maritimo we were told
that they would search for the vessel. We turned to the passengers and
informed them that rescue services had been notified. Afterwards, the
travellers could not be reached again. At about 5:40am, our shift team
received the information that the vessel had been intercepted by the
Moroccan Navy (see: http://watchthemed.net/reports/view/181).