World Europe Alarm Phone Emergency Cases from 7th-13th of July 2015‏

Alarm Phone Emergency Cases from 7th-13th of July 2015:

On the 7th of July, Father Zerai alerted us to a vessel in distress near
Libya. The exact position of the vessel was unclear but after speaking
to the passengers directly it emerged that there were about 180 people
on the boat. They were very anxious and in urgent need to be rescued.
Later in the day, contact to them broke down. Despite being very
reluctant to cooperate and pass on information, MRCC Rome finally
informed us in the evening that it had been rescued, which was again
confirmed the following day (see:http://watchthemed.net/reports/view/163).

On the 8th of July, Nawal Soufi's activist collective informed us of two
vessels in distress in the Central Med. One had left Libya and its
passengers could not be reached by our shift team. The second vessel had
left Egypt and we were able to establish a direct satellite phone
connection to them and were informed by them later on that two vessels
were approaching them. The rescue of the first vessel was also confirmed
in the evening (see: http://watchthemed.net/reports/view/164).

On the 8th/9th of July, the Alarm Phone was alerted to three vessels in
distress in the Western Med. Two of the three vessels could not be
directly reached and contact to the third vessel was lost after a few
exchanges. It was later confirmed that the first vessel had been
intercepted by Morocco and the same is highly likely with regards to the
other two vessels, even if a final confirmation could not be obtained
(see: http://watchthemed.net/reports/view/165).

In the evening of Thursday the 9th of July 2015, the Alarm Phone
received a message by someone whose Syrian friend’s family members were
on board of a vessel that had capsized on Tuesday the 7th of July, near
the Greek islands of Farmakonisi and Agathonisi (see source 1). 19
people are feared dead and 21 were rescued by Greek and Turkish
coastguard. Our contact person asked for support to find out whether his
friend’s family members were amongst the missing or drowned. He asked
for further contacts. Later on, Pro Asyl confirmed that their Greek
colleagues had begun to establish contact to different authorities on
Greek islands and in Turkey in order to find out more about the
survivors and the victims of the shipwreck (see:
http://watchthemed.net/reports/view/168).

On Friday the 10th of July, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 5 Syrian
families, 19 adults and 10 children, who had arrived on Samos Island but
had lost orientation and were lost in the woods. We contacted local
authorities and hope they are fine (see:
http://watchthemed.net/reports/view/169). To this report we added a
short statement about the situation on the Greek island: We from the
Alarm Phone have received many calls in the past few weeks from those
who were in distress at sea or disoriented after arrival on the Greek
islands. For several weeks and months now, the Greek islands find
themselves in a state of exception, with thousands of travellers moving
through the Aegean Sea and landing on islands that are not prepared to
adequately support and care for the newly arrived. Again and again
people arrive, amongst them unaccompanied minors, pregnant women and the
ill and injured, who desperately require assistance but who, more often
than not, have to fend for themselves. The reception capacities do not
suffice, leaving many on the street or in makeshift shelters. In a
recent report, Human Rights Watch referred to the situation as a
‘humanitarian crisis’ and stated: ‘Despite considerable effort by local
authorities on the islands, debt-stricken Greece is unable to meet its
most basic obligations toward the people who arrive there, the vast
majority of whom are fleeing violence and repression’ (source 1). While
the crisis materializes on the Greek islands, it is a European and
political crisis, produced and maintained by a European border regime
that closes down safe and legal paths of entry, often leaving only the
option to attempt the dangerous sea crossing. On the 7th of July, a
vessel capsized in the Aegean Sea, with 19 people presumably drowned
(see source 2). We call for solidarity with the local support structures
that do exist on the Greek island but that do not have the needed
capacity and resources (see source 3 for previous Alarm Phone report and
call for donations to local organisations).

In the morning of Saturday the 11th of July, the Alarm Phone shift team
was informed by Nawal Soufi’s activist collective that they had received
an emergency call from Turkey the night before. The travellers had left
the Turkish coast on Thursday but further information could not be
received as the satellite phone seemed to have been switched off. The
activist collective informed us later that they had contacted MRCC Rome
who confirmed that they had found a vessel in Italian waters that had
left Turkey on Thursday. It seems very likely that this was the vessel
in question (see: http://watchthemed.net/reports/view/167).

The shift teams of the Alarm Phone witnessed something close to a
miracle over the past week, 8th-13th of July. We were contacted by
someone who knew of a vessel in the waters off Southern Morocco that had
gone missing. It carried 34 people and had left already three days
earlier from Boujdour, Morocco, trying to reach the Canary Islands,
Spain. Weather conditions were difficult, the sea rough and the Spanish
rescue agency Salvamento Maritimo was thinking about suspending their
search. Fortunately they continued and then, after days of waiting
anxiously, the incredible news: the vessel was found and the passengers
were all alive and that after 6 days at sea! We from the Alarm Phone are
very relieved and wish the travellers a quick recovery! (See:
http://watchthemed.net/reports/view/166).