Between Sunday the 7th and Sunday the 14th of June, several emergency
calls reached the Alarm Phone from all three main regions of the
Mediterranean Sea. Once again, thousands risked their lives to overcome
the dangerous maritime borders of Europe and some, fortunately, were
successful while others were intercepted and brought back to the place
they sought to escape.
Our shift teams were alerted to two distress cases in the Central
Mediterranean Sea. On the 7th of June, we heard of a vessel carrying a
large group of Syrian refugees that had left Libya. While we could not
reach the passengers directly, we heard of their rescue hours later and
they were amongst the 2731 people who were rescued on that day in 15
search and rescue operations (see:
http://watchthemed.net/index.php/reports/view/148). On the 8th of June,
a friend of the Alarm Phone passed on information about a vessel in
distress, again off the coast of Libya. After many hours and difficult
conversations with the Italian authorities, it could finally be
established that this vessel was found and its passengers rescued (see:
http://watchthemed.net/reports/view/146).
Two emergency situations with Alarm Phone involvement occurred also in
the Aegean Sea. On the 8th of June, approximately 160 Syrian refugees
had left from the southern Turkish coast and they reported that the
Turkish police or coastguard chased after them while firing shots in
their direction. Later on, our shift team obtained the confirmation from
the Turkish coastguards that they had intercepted the vessel (see:
http://watchthemed.net/reports/view/149). On the 9th of June, a person
on a vessel that had left Didim/Turkey also reported that the Turkish
coastguards chased after them and had fired gunshots in the air. Shortly
afterwards, he told us that they were stopped and in the process of
being taken on board of the Turkish vessel. Unfortunately, contact to
the passengers could afterwards not be re-established (see:
http://watchthemed.net/reports/view/150).
Between the 9th and the 14th of June, we were alerted to 7 vessels in
distress in the Western Mediterranean Sea (see:
http://watchthemed.net/reports/view/147). Many groups of travellers had
embarked on the dangerous journey from Northern Moroccan shores to
Southern Spain. On small rubber vessels, these groups of approximately
10-12 people, often including women and children, found themselves in
situations of distress and reached out to the Alarm Phone. We alerted
the Spanish rescue agency Salvamento Maritimo to these cases and were
hoping that the travellers would safely reach Spain, their desired
destination. However, in all of these cases, the Moroccan Navy
intercepted the travellers and sent them back to Morocco. We now hope
they are well and wish them the strength to overcome the sea in their
next attempt.
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» German Overview of Alarm Phone activities 7-14th of June 2015