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The end of the year approaches – Migration toward Europe continues in high numbers

In the past week, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 52 distress cases in the Aegean Sea and to 2 cases in the Central Mediterranean Sea. Despite the winter and increasingly harsh weather conditions, travellers keep struggling to overcome maritime borders to Europe. Data released by the UNHCR showed that nearly one million people reached Greek and Italian territories through sea crossings in 2016 (source 1). Nearly half a million people arrived on the small Greek island of Lesvos throughout the year and, quite incredibly, the number arrivals on this island was higher in December than in August, with an estimated 52,415 people arriving there up until the 27th of December alone. Struggles continue also in other regions of the Mediterranean. In the past week, more than 2200 people were rescued in the Central Mediterranean Sea, between Libya and Italy (source 2). About 400 people tried to overcome the border to the Spanish city of Ceuta in Northern Africa on the 25th of December.

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Many deaths in the Aegean Sea and hundreds stuck on Greek Military Island

In the past two weeks, the Alarm Phone witnessed again the deadly consequences of the EU’s border regime, which increasingly foster suffering and despair throughout Europe’s border zone. While attempts to cross the Aegean Sea are on a constant high despite the seasonal weather conditions, with about 25.000 people arriving in Greece per week,[i] more and more sea crossings turn into fatal accidents. In the last two weeks, we were informed about or directly witnessed at least 7 maritime accidents, with more than one hundred deaths, including many children.

Not least due to the EU-enforced presence of Turkish police forces at the coast, travellers are forced to take ever more lengthy and dangerous routes, like for instance in the direction of the Greek island of Farmakonisi, where most of last weeks’ shipwrecks occurred.

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Quelle: Alarm Phone

Quelle: Alarm Phone

Unabated Migration Movements in all three regions of the Mediterranean Sea

The situation on the island of Farmakonisi is particularly dramatic, as the island is uninhabited except for the military stationed there. Without any reception infrastructure on the island, arriving people are neither fed, nor given water or shelter.

In the past two weeks the Alarm Phone worked on 94 emergency cases, 93 of which came from the Aegean region. While the overwhelming majority of distress calls reached us from the Aegean Sea, it is clear that sea migrations via the Central and Western Mediterranean Sea are still ongoing. In the past two weeks hundreds of travellers were rescued in the Central Med and on the 5th of December we were involved in a large-scale rescue operation after Father Mussie Zerai had informed us about a vessel in distress off the coast of Libya (find details of the case below).

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Quelle: Alarm Phone

Establishing a connection to a Smartphone on the boat would enable us to document and thus scandalise push backs. As the Strait of Gibraltar where people try to cross is only 14 kilometres and has internet coverage, establishing such a crucial connection is possible!

The Watch the Med Alarm Phone is an emergency hotline for refugee and migrant’s boats crossing the Mediterranean. In case of distress they can call the alarm number (+33486517161) and the shift on duty will inform the responsible authorities and monitor the search and rescue operation. Since the Hotline has been launched in October 2014, more than 600 distress cases have been registered and rescue organized successfully. Read our reports at http://alarmphone.org/de/.

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Quelle: Alarm Phone

Deadly denial of assistance in the Western Med; borders of Greece increasingly sealed off

As the rescue vessel had arrived at the spot prior to the accident, why did it not act immediately but waited for almost an hour until the boat had capsized?

Between Monday the 16^th of November and Sunday the 22^nd of November 2015 the Alarm Phone dealt with 44 cases of travellers in distress at the European borders. In one particular case in the Western Mediterranean Sea we witnessed a delayed rescue by the Spanish rescue organization Salvamento Maritimo, which led to the drowning of at least 24 travellers after a boat with 46 people on board had capsized off the coast of the Western Sahara. As the rescue vessel had arrived at the spot prior to the accident, why did it not act immediately but waited for almost an hour until the boat had capsized? Later on Salvamento Maritimo downplayed the number of travellers on board and the many missing travellers, claiming that they had rescued all but one of them – a statement that fundamentally contradicts the testimonies of survivors, family members and Spanish activists (http://watchthemed.net/index.php/reports/view/347).

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