On Monday morning, January 24, a group of approximately 40 people, 15 of them children, landed north east of Aspalathrokampos, Inousses north east.
After arriving they took pictures and videos to document and prove that they had arrived on the Greek island.
Unfortunately this documentation wasn’t sent directly to Aegean Boat Report, but to people claiming to be family, we only received this information from people outside the group, not on location. Second hand information is many times a problem, because we don’t know where the information is coming from, people claiming to be family members can also easily be smuggler’s trying to protect their investment.
To avoid cooperating or assisting smuggler’s and human traffickers, we can only try to help when information is coming directly from people on location. We always ask for number of people, pictures, videos and location, especially location is important, without it we can do nothing, for several reasons. First it is impossible to try to help people when we don’t know exactly where they are, and secondly, the location proves that people are where they say they are. Location can only be sent either as live location or regular location on Whatsapp, any attempt to forward a location received from others will automatically look different from a regular location.
We are doing everything in our power to try to assist new arrivals, but we must also do all we can to avoid assisting criminals. For that reason we can only try to assist when information is coming directly from the source, and when this source can provide proper location information as described above.
When that is said, we totally understand that family and friends are doing what they can to help. Most people contacting Aegean Boat Report is probably who they claim to be, the only problem is that we can’t verify that, it’s only a number on the screen. So please, if in need of assistance, contact Aegean Boat Report Hotline directly on this number on whatsapp, Signal or Telegram.
Please remember that this is NOT a emergency number, if in any emergency call the international emergency number, 112 and you will be rerouted to your nearest emergency call center.
We tried to get the family members who contacted us on behalf of the people on Inousses, to get them to contact us directly, this did unfortunately not happen, for what reason we don’t know.
The following hours pictures, videos and locations was sent to us from these relatives, it was pretty clear that the case was genuine, unfortunately we never got any direct messages from anyone in this group, so there was little we could do.
Pictures and videos clearly shows that this group was on Inousses, locals can easily recognize, houses, the church and roads.
Locals must also have observed the new arrivals on the islands, and probably the once who informed port police. 40 people were taken onboard a vessel from the Hellenic coast guard, transported away from Inousses, in brought daylight, in front of everyone. Most likely locals were told that they would be taken to the refugee camp on Chios, this did unfortunately not happen.
There is absolutely no doubt that the people found drifting in these life rafts were the same people who arrived on Inousses earlier this day, and there is also no doubt on who abandoned these men, women and children in the Aegean Sea.
In most cases it’s close to impossible to stop the Greek coast guard pushing people back, especially at sea. When it comes to people who already have arrived on a Greek island, we can at least document and publish these crimes committed by the Greek government. We know it’s not much, but it’s better than nothing, and if nobody is telling the story, it’s like it never happened, the crimes will go unnoticed.
Aegean Boat Report have been documenting pushbacks in the Aegean Sea for two years, and will continue as long as it is necessary. Hundreds of these cases have been published by international press, putting the spotlight on Greece, if we hadn’t continuously published these cases, this would never have happened. Without information directly from people on the move, this will be impossible, we need direct contact with people just arrived, we need number of people, pictures, videos and locations.
In most cases we can’t stop the Greek government from pushing you back, but we can tell your story, we can give you a voice so that your story is not forgotten. Let Aegean Boat Report tell your story.
Twenty-five people, 17 of them small children, were arrested on Lesvos, beaten and abused before being set adrift on the open sea in the latest outrage carried out by uniformed Greek operatives. And the ‘crime’ committed by these 25 people, to justify their horrifying experience at the hands of people who are paid to save and safeguard human lives? Nothing at all. They were simply attempting to find a safe place to live, learn and work.
In the afternoon of Sunday, 9 January, a boat carrying 25 people landed south of Tsonia, Lesvos north east. Immediately after arriving, the group hid in the woods in the surrounding area, afraid that if found by police, they would be illegally returned to Turkey. At 17.00 they contacted Aegean Boat Report for assistance.
In the following hours they provided pictures, videos, voice messages and location data, to document their presence on Lesvos: there was no doubt that they were on the island.
The group desperately needed help, but despite my efforts to find someone, I was not able to locate anyone who could help them on Lesvos. Aegean Boat Report did a public post on social media, with an urgent appeal for help, but no organization came forward, nobody could protect any of these people, not even the 17 children.
There are many organizations who are eager to criticize when people are drowning in the Aegean Sea, pointing fingers towards those responsible. But when they have a chance to intervene, before people are put in potentially life-threatening situations, they say and do nothing.
Next time people are drowning in the Aegean Sea, these same organizations will again use the opportunity to “show their sympathy” with the victims, because it fits their “humanitarian profile”, it’s financially profitable to seem to be on the side of humanity. The word hypocrisy springs to mind.
But there are reasons as well.
On Lesvos, or any other island for that matter, there is nobody able to help, even if they wanted to, no local organizations, no NGOs, volunteers, journalists or lawyers, who would go to a location to help people who have just arrived, not even to document their presence. Because if they did, and the police found them, they risk arrested on site, charged with facilitating illegal entry to Greece, obstruction of police investigations and whatever other charges they might come up with, this just because they tried to help vulnerable people seeking safety in Europe.
This, unfortunately, is the reality on Europe’s borders. European politicians no longer defend ‘our European values’: those values are gone. They are just words without substance, used in speeches to make it look like they are doing something. They are not.
The group of 25 stayed hiding in the woods all night, waiting for daylight. It was cold, they had no dry clothes, food, or water. This was especially challenging for the many small children.
At first light on Monday 10 January, they started moving towards the nearest village, Tsonia, so they would be seen by locals, in the belief that public awareness would prevent the police from pushing them back.
At 08.00 on 10 January, Aegean Boat Report emailed organizations, NGO’s, authorities and the Greek ombudsman, to tell them the group would like to apply for asylum in Greece, and needed international protection. We received no reply. The letter was also published on Facebook and Twitter for public awareness:
“25 refugees arrived in Lesvos yesterday and were announced to the authorities, Greek ombudsman and UNHCR Greece by Aegean Boat Report this morning. We urged UNHCR and the Ombudsman to mediate directly to ensure that their human rights will be respected. 17 of the 25 people in the group are children”.
At 10.20, they arrived in the outskirts of the village, but were too scared to walk further. They saw several cars and local people.
One hour later, at 11.20, they informed Aegean Boat Report that the police had found them. All contact was then lost with the group, all phones went offline, all we could do was wait and hope that they would be taken to a camp. This didn’t happen. No new arrivals were registered by Lesvos’ authorities that day, or in the following days.
We later learned from local residents that police were driving around in the area in civilian cars – a grey minivan with four men in dark uniforms caught their particular attention. This car stopped in the outskirts of the village, and four men stepped out. All were wearing balaclavas, which locals would not use during harvest.
The car was filmed, and we can clearly see the license plate IZH:1548 on its back, as well as a man standing behind it.
The refugees later explained that four men in dark uniforms and balaclavas, all carrying guns, were the ones who had found them. After seeing pictures of the car, they confirmed it was the same one used by the “commandos” who found them.
When the people were found in the outskirts of Tsonia by these “commandos”, some of them tried to run away, one of the refugees said. Four shots were fired to force them back in line. Everyone was very scared, children were crying, it was an horrific ordeal.
People were held at gunpoint in this location for more than an hour. Everyone was searched by force, and all their belongings, bags, papers, money and phones were taken from them.
Locals in the area saw a big white van coming to the area around noon, and later driving away approximately one hour later, with the grey minivan ahead of it. All the refugees they had seen earlier were gone, so they assumed the van had taken them away.
The same white van has been used to transport refugees from several previous landings, and in all these cases people have been forcibly removed from the island, and pushed back to Turkey.
These “civilian” vehicles are known by Lesvos residents to be used by “secret police”, to blend in, but everyone knows the men inside them are military personnel on assignment from the Greek authorities to “hunt” refugees.
In late afternoon on Monday 10 January, Aegean Boat Report received a desperate voice message from one of the people in the group that we had spoken to on Lesvos earlier in the morning.
They had managed to hide one phone from the police on Lesvos, and had just enough power on the phone for an emergency call to the Turkish coast guard, and send a voice message to Aegean Boat Report. No location was received, and the phone was again offline.
We contacted the Turkish Coastguard (TCG) immediately, but without a location there wasn’t much they could do. TCG said they had not found anyone in the area around Lesvos, but they had just received information on a group of people in distress outside Seferihisar.
We discarded the possibility of it being the same group, due to the distance from Lesvos; they wouldn’t transport people over 200km to perform a pushback, we thought.
The Hellenic Coastguard had transported this group over 200km to be able to push them back, which shows the determination of the Greek authorities to remove anyone by any possible means.
So, why didn’t they just push them back outside Lesvos, as they usually do in these cases? The explanation is quite simple, the wind direction at the time was north west, and if they had placed the life raft in the sea it would have drifted back towards Greek waters.
Yesterday, we regained contact with the group, who are are now in a quarantine facility in Seferihisar, Turkey and they explained what really happened to them.
Their experience is just horrific.
The police found them in the outskirts of the village, where they were searched, and all their belongings were confiscated.
After an hour a white van arrived and everyone was forced into the back: “They treated us like garbage”, a woman told us. “They kicked and beat us, even some of the children got beaten”.
It was difficult to be sure, but they believe the car was driving for more than an hour. When it finally stopped, they were at some kind of harbour, where a small grey boat with two engines was waiting at a wooden pier.
When they came out of the van there were 10-15 masked men, all in dark uniforms, carrying guns. People were ordered to look down and stay quiet, and there was a lot of shouting. The children were crying, terrified of the masked men. The two-engined grey RIB took people out to a larger vessel in small groups. In the RIB, there were three masked men with guns.
The larger vessel was grey, with blue and white stripes in the front. After looking at pictures of vessels from the Hellenic Coastguard (HCG), they identified the boat as Sa’ar 4 class offshore patrol vessel belonging to the Hellenic Coastguard.
Everyone was placed outside in the middle of the boat they explained: “They put us under a white plastic tarpaulin, so that nobody could see us, and told us they would take us to Athens”.
This was of course a lie, but people wanted desperately to believe that it was true.
After 7-8 hours, the boat it stopped. It was dark outside and quite windy, and the HCG vessel was moved back and forth by the waves. A strange boat was put into the sea, they said: “Everyone was forced down in this boat, the boat had no engine, those who refused or didn’t move quickly enough was thrown down into the boat”.
Twenty-five people, 17 of them children, were forced into a life rafts by the Greek coast guard.
A woman explained that a small baby ended up in the sea: “The Greek police threw the baby down from the Greek ship, but missed the life raft, luckily we managed to get the baby back in the raft. Another girl was pushed down from the Greek ship, and broke her foot, it was barbaric, they enjoyed it, as if we were not humans.”
Around 22.00 on 10 January the group was left drifting in a life raft outside Seferihisar by the Hellenic coast guard. They managed to call for help, and one hour later, at 23.15, they were found and rescued by the Turkish Coastguard.
When they arrived in port in Seferihisar, two babies and a 13-year-old girl, Harir, were taken to hospital. The babies had respiratory problems, vomiting and fever, and Harir had a broken foot after being thrown from the Greek Coastguard vessel.
Several of the others had bruises and wounds. A boy aged 16 was beaten in his face, cut over his eyes and mouth, another had bruises all over his back after being beaten. A little girl showed her arm, full of bruises after being trampled by one of the masked men onboard the Greek Coastguard vessel.
After hearing their testimonies, seeing the pictures and videos, I can’t help feeling ashamed.
How can we explain this to anyone, when we do nothing to stop it: we let it happen.
There is absolutely no doubt who is responsible for these illegal pushbacks, and no doubt that the EU Commission and its representatives don’t and won’t lift a finger to try to stop these violations.
It’s an embarrassment, not only for the EU Commission, but for the whole of Europe.
This has been going on for more than 22 months. More than 25.000 people have been illegally pushed back in the Aegean Sea, 485 life rafts found drifting carrying 8,400 people, all at the hands of the Greek government, blessed and backed by the EU Commission.
These are violations of international law and human rights financed by EU taxpayers.
The EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, once said, “Pushbacks should never be normalised, pushbacks should never be legalized.”
But pushbacks are normalized, and happen every day in Greece, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, actually the whole Balkan route and the EU`s external border. It is illegal. It is immoral. It is barbarism, and we – the people of Greece, the people of Europe, and the people of the world, deserve much, much better.
Thursday afternoon a boat reported to be carrying 34 people landed south west of Keramia, Chios south east. We have later found information that indicates that the total number of people on this boat was 41.
After arriving they split up into four groups, and hid in the surrounding area, frightened that if found by police they would be illegally returned to Turkey.
Two groups, 8 and 6 people, who contacted Aegean Boat Report after arriving, stayed in the area over night. In the morning of Friday 31th of December, they moved towards Ag. Ermioni. A group of 8 people walked into the village, and down to the harbor, while 6 were skeptical, and remained on the road outside the village.
Locals on the area spotted the new arrivals, and most likely contact police, all contact with both groups in Ermioni was lost at noon this day, but before contact was lost they managed to send many pictures to document their presence in the village.
On December 31, a total of 14 people were officially registered as having arrived on Chios, we believe these 14 people were found in Ag. Ermioni, and not pushed back because too many locals had documented their presence. It would be very difficult for local police to deny that they had been in the village.
The two remaining groups, 23 and 4 people, moved towards the village of Neochorion, where they stayed over night next to the local kindergarten.
In the early hours of Friday they again contacted Aegean Boat Report, asking for help. They sent several videos, it was raining, the situation for the children was especially difficult.
The group continued walking, now on the main road towards Chios city center, but at 08.20 they were stopped by police. They sent several voice messages asking for help, unfortunately nobody could, they were in the hands of the Greek authorities.
We followed their last movements on live position on Whatsapp, it seemed that the police had moved them off the road and into a backyard of a villa in the area, and here, at 09.18, the phone went offline. It has not been online since.
We hoped that also these two groups would be taken to the quarantine facility on Chios, at the time all we could do was wait and hope for the best. Unfortunately only 14 people was registered in the quarantine facility, no new registrations were made in the following day.
When we posted information on their arrival that day, we knew that without assistance from local organizations they would most likely be illegally returned to Turkey. We wrote:
“The group contacted Aegean Boat Report for assistance, but we couldn’t find anyone on Chios to help them. The criminalization strategy by the Greek authorities is working perfectly, anyone assisting unregistered refugees will face criminal charges.
New arrivals in Greece face an imminent risk of being pushed back, in desperate need of protection, and nobody can legally protect them, that’s actually mind blowing, how could we end up at this point in Europe without anyone trying to stop it?
This group is as far as we know still in hiding in the woods, we can see them being online, but have for unknown reasons stoped replying.
Without assistance from people on location, and without organizations willing to assist, these vulnerable people will be left to their own fate.
We fear that if found by police, they will face a violent pushback, at gunpoint, by the hand of the Hellenic coast guard, as so many before them.
These men, women and children need protection now, but who can we turn to when even UNHCR refuses to help?”
The local online news Astraparis also posted about the new arrivals.
Yesterday we could confirm that these two groups, in which police had found and arrested, 27 people, men women and children, were stripped of all their belongings and forcibly removed from Chios by port police, on direct orders from the Greek government. In 2021 Aegean Boat Report has registered 629 cases of illegal pushbacks on the Greek Aegean Islands, 99 of them on Chios.
From pictures and videos taken while on Chios, and shared with Aegean Boat Report, there is absolutely no doubt that it’s the same people, there is also no doubt about who is responsible.
No help arrived, because there is no help for these people, the only thing Aegean Boat Report can do in cases like this, is to document, and later publish our findings.
Perhaps at some point in the future, these documented cases of pushbacks can lead to changes for the better. For the people in this pushback, and all the pushbacks in the coming weeks and months, there is no comfort in that, but we have to believe that things will change, at some point in the future. I have been telling myself this for weeks, months and years, and I’m losing hope that this will ever become reality. Since March 2020, almost 26.000 people have been pushed back by the hands of the Greek government in the Aegean Sea.
So is it plausible that they managed to do this, by themselves, without any “assistance”? First find a life raft, in an area where there is basically nothing but small fishing boats, then inflate it and paddle, because these life rafts have no engine, back towards the place they where fleeing from in the first place, in the dark. And yes, they most likely were paddling with their shoes, because when they were found they had no shoes, even the small child must have dropped his shoes in his effort to get them back to Turkey.
Not a very plausible explanation, but this is the explanation the Greek government wants you to believe, that they somehow managed, and wanted to go back to Turkey. A place so horrifying for them, that they took their children in a dangerous boat, to cross the deadliest stretch of water in Europe, in the dark, and for this they paid a smuggler thousands of Euros. Nobody is naive enough to believe that this was something they did by themselves, and I mean literally nobody, but nevertheless this is the Greek government’s explanation for this “phenomena”.
And we must by all means believe the Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, when he tells the international press, over and over again, that the Greek government is not responsible for these pushbacks, and say “If there’s any incident that needs to be explored, if there’s any exaggeration at any given point, I’m going to be the first to look into it,”, Well he never has..
Also the minister of migration and asylum Notis Mitarachi, have been eager to proclaim the Greek government’s innocence in these pushbacks, that the international press is paid and been manipulated by the Turkish government and the “criminal” NGOs, to publish unfounded accusations to smear the good name of Greece. He always, when asked of these pushbacks say, “Greece has a tough but fair’ border management policy, to protect the border of Europe”.
Artwork by Yorgos Konstantinou
In the last 22 months, 484 life rafts have been found drifting in the Aegean Sea carrying over 8,400 people. Nowhere on earth have so many life rafts been found at sea, in peace or war times, but strangely enough, European politicians seem to be unwilling to even address the issue.
The politicians we have elected to protect, as the Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson put it, “our fundamental European values”, seem to be fumbling at a time when Europe seems to be at a crossroads. We need to decide if Europe will continue to be a place where we protect people seeking safety, where international laws and human rights are upheld, or if we will continue to build a wall around Europe, where only the fortunate ones, with a golden ticket, will be allowed to enter.
In the middle of November, in the weekend between 12-14, at least five boats arrived on Samos, carrying a total of 141 people, a hectic weekend for organizations like Aegean Boat Report who try to document their arrival and assist so that people are not pushed back to Turkey.
Of the 141 people arriving this weekend that we knew about, only 48 people was registered as arrived on Samos by the Greek authorities, 93 men, women and children was forcibly removed from the island. (The Turkish coast guard found and picked up 118 people in the area around Samos in the same time period, so we assume that there were more than the five boats we had contacted with).
To try to support new arrivals without any support from organizations on the ground is in most cases impossible, it limits us to give advice, document and publish information to make public awareness. For most of the people arriving this weekend, our assistance was of little help, if any at all. My personal opinion, we failed miserably, and the once paying the price for our failure was the men, women and children pushed back.
Before first light on November 12, a boat carrying 31 people landed on Cape Praso, Samos north east. This is a remote area without any roads, and people started moving west in the dark, towards Vaty.
People from the group contacted several organizations for assistance, amongst them the Greek Helsinki Monitor and Aegean Boat Report. Advice was given to move towards the monastery of Zoodohos Pigi. Information was sent by email to several organizations, NGO’s, local authorities and the Greek ombudsman, to inform that the group wanted to apply for asylum.
One organizations agreed to go to the monastery this day, but for some reason they didn’t find anyone when they arrived. Perhaps there had been a misunderstanding, or the group was delayed. But when the group finally arrived the following morning at the monastery, Saturday morning, there were no organization there, only the police. Why police were there on this morning we don’t know, but we can assume that the organizations had alerted the authorities of the presence of new arrivals in this area.
Contact with this group was lost on Saturday morning, after they informed us that police was at the Monastery. What happened with the group is unknown, but eight of them was later this day found by the Turkish coast guard in a rocky area of Kusadasi, claiming that the Greek Coast Guard had removed them from Samos.
From pictures published by the Turkish coast guard, we have positively identified the 8 people to be from the group of 31 that arrived on Cape Praso the previous day.
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On Saturday morning another boat carrying 17 people arriving on Livadaki Beach, Samos north east. The group contact Aegean Boat Report for assistance.
The group sent pictures, videos and location data, there was no doubt of their presence on Samos.
A local asset on Samos went to the location and found the group, first some on the dirt track, afterwards the rest of the group hiding in the surrounding areas. They were very scared, and didn’t trust anyone, the asset on location wasn’t able to convince them that it was there with good intentions, and pulled back.
Leaving the are a yellow car was observed picking up four of the new arrivals, later the car came back and picked up more people. Who was driving this car, and where the people were taken to is not known, but it was not a car belonging to the authorities.
If this yellow car picked up everyone from this landing, or what happened to the rest we have not been able to determine, but several days later, on November 16, 17 people was registered as arrived on Samos, if it was people from this group, we actually don’t know.
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At the same time another boat landed close to Isomata, Samos south west carrying 26 people.
The group contacted the Greek Helsinki Monitor for assistance, and a new email was sent to local organizations, NGO’s, local authorities and the Greek Ombudsman, containing 18 people from this group asking to be able to apply for asylum.
The following day, November 15, 28 people was officially registered by Greek authorities as arrived on Samos, we believe that 26 of them came from the arrivals in Isomata the previous day.
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In the early hours of November 13, more boas arrived on Samos, this time in the north west, one in Potami carrying 27 people and one in Paralia Megalo, carrying 36 people.
People from the Potami landing contacted Aegean Boat Report for assistance, they also contacted other organizations like the Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM), who collected personal information from all 27. GHM sent an email to organizations, NGO’s, authorities, the Greek ombudsman etc, to inform that the group would like to apply for asylum in Greece.
From pictures, videos and location data received by Aegean Boat Report from the arrivals in Potami, there was no doubt that they were in Potami, Samos north west.
We remained in contact with the group throughout Saturday, until midday Sunday, when contacted with the group was lost. We could assume that they might have run out of power on their phones, all at once, but more likely was that police had found them, and confiscated their phones, as they usually do.
We didn’t manage to get any help for this group, nobody on Samos was willing to try to give any assistance for these vulnerable people, in fear of repercussions from the Greek authorities. This is usually the case on most Greek islands, nobody wants to help, most in fear of their own safety, the prospect of being arrested isn’t very appealing.
There is of course also other reasons why some of these organizations on the Greek Aegean islands isn’t very interested in helping. If you look at their pages online you would find no criticism towards the Greek government, camp situation, human right violations or pushbacks. They are in fact willing to close their eyes to all of this, to have the opportunity to continue to work inside these camps, because it’s financially very profitable, especially for the founders. It’s not unusual for a relatively small organization to have founders with fancy titles like «Secretary General, CEO», and a salary that matches. Everything might look good from the outside, but if anyone starts to really look into these organizations, things might change a bit, especially their attitude towards the one trying to expose them for what they really are, they get really nasty really fast.
From pictures and videos provided by the refugees while on Samos, compared with footage published by the Turkish coast guard, there is no doubt, it’s the same group that was in Palio, Samos north east.
From testimonies from the people onboard the life raft, there is no doubt on who placed them in this potentially life treating situation. They had been arrested by police on Samos, held on the island until dark and forced back to sea at gunpoint. Many very brutally beaten, all belongings was taken, money, phones and papers confiscated by Greek police, before abandoned in a life raft by the Hellenic coast guard, on direct orders from the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
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The fifth boat this Weekend arrived in Paralia Megalo Saturday morning, and was reported to be carrying 36 people.
After arriving the group split up in several smaller groups, some went into hiding in the surrounding areas, but one group of 6 people started moving east in the dark.
The group was found by police in the outskirts of Potami in the afternoon on Saturday and all contact was lost. At 08.45, November 14, Turkish coast guard reported to have spotted 6 people on land in an remote area in Kusadasi. From pictures taken on Samos compared to pictures published by the Turkish coast guard of those found in Kusadasi the following morning,we have positively identified all 6.
The remaining 17 people from this group we have not been able to track, some might be amongst those who where registered as arrived in the quarantine structure on Samos. Between 13.11.2021-17.11.2021 a total of 54 people was registered, 28 on November 15 and 17 on November 16, but more likely amongst the 93 pushed back this weekend.
This is unfortunately the reality on the borders of Europe today, Europe politicians no longer defends our European values, these values are gone, they are just words without substance, used in speeches to make it look like they are doing something, they are not.
Artwork by Yorgos Konstantinou
There is absolutely no doubt who is responsible for this illegal pushbacks, and it’s also no doubt that the EU Commission and it’s representatives won’t lift a finger to try to stop these violations, it’s an embarrassment, not only for the EU commission, but for the whole of Europe.
This has been going on for over 19 months, 25.000 people have been illegally pushed back in the Aegean Sea, 450 life rafts found drifting carrying 8000 people, all by the hands of the Greek government, blessed by the EU Commission. Violations of international laws and human rights financed by EU taxpayers money.
Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson is using fancy words in a speech at the plenary debate on pushbacks at the EU external border, “Pushbacks should never be normalised. Pushbacks should never be legalized”, unfortunately both are a lie.
Pushbacks are in deed normalized, the results we can see in Greece, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Polen, actually the whole Balkan route and the external border to The EU.
To say that pushbacks never should be legalized on one side, and finance it on the other side seems strangely contradictory. Frontex presence on the border of the EU is massive, never before in the history of Frontex has more troops been deployed at the EU border, state of the art technology and surveillance systems, but despite all this, they haven’t reported one single pushback, no violations of human rights, nothing, doesn’t anyone find that a bit odd?
Perhaps it’s difficult to report on something that they are a part of, but for EU politicians to try to make it as this is not their policy, not their responsibility, lying and trying to disguise the truth, it’s an embarrassment.
This is “the shipwreck of civilization”, performed in our name, on our watch.
Forty-four men, women and children were robbed, beaten and abused before being set adrift on the open sea in the latest outrage carried out by uniformed Greek operatives.
And the ‘crime’ committed by these 44 people, to justify their horrifying experience at the hands of people who are paid to save and safeguard human lives? Nothing at all. They were simply attempting to find a safe place to live, learn and work.
At 11.48pm (EET) on 14 November, 44 people on a sailboat in distress, north west of Stavri, Peloponnese, contacted Aegean Boat Report.
The smuggler who had sailed the boat from Turkey towards Italy had abandoned them after the boat’s engine malfunctioned, leaving them drifting helplessly dangerously close to the cliffs in the area. The weather was rough: heavy wind and waves were pushing the boat towards land. The situation was critical.
Aegean Boat Report told the passengers to contact emergency services on 112 immediately, and at the same time we called the Ministry of Shipping & Island Policy in Piraeus.
The call was immediately rerouted to the emergency call centre of the Hellenic coast guard.
Usually, a distress call to any emergency service in Europe doesn’t take more than a minute: information is provided, some questions are asked about who is calling, the location, situation etc., and help is on its way.
When calling the Hellenic coast guard on cases involving refugees in distress, however, the situation is quite different.
They are normally more interested in who you are and how you know something is happening, than in the emergency you are trying to help with, wasting precious time when you have none to spare.
It took me 10 minutes to make this call, and most of the questions the operator asked were about me, not the emergency I was desperately trying to get help for.
In many calls I have made over the years to the Hellenic coast guard to alert them about emergencies at sea, it’s not only the time waisted in pointless interrogations that is frustrating: in many cases SAR operations are deliberately delayed for hours, and people drown as a result.
In this case they actually responded. At 01.40am, people onboard the sailboat told Aegean Boat Report that rescue had arrived, and sent several videos of a Lambro 57 coastal patrol boat with search lights in front of them, belonging to the port police in Kalamáta.
Normally, Aegean Boat Report doesn’t intervene in this sort of situation. But because of the dramatic situation and the imminent threat the boat might crash into the nearby cliffs, I made a call to assist, to try to get this sailboat to a safer location to avoid unnecessary loss of life.
The boat was dangerously close to the rocky peninsula at the sheltered bay of Mezapos north from the Cape Cavo Grosso of Mani, at one point only fifty meters from the cliffs.
The wind and waves coming from the west pushed the boat towards the peninsula, and the people onboard were panicking.
In the dark, without lights, it’s very difficult to navigate these waters, even for a skilled sailor. To get people who had never been on a sailboat before, with poor English skills, listening to instructions over the phone, to guide the boat to safety, seemed like an impossible undertaking.
Perhaps we had help from above, that someone took pity on these desperate souls, who knows, but they managed to clear the cape, and move the sailboat into the sheltered bay of Mezapos and set anchor.
Here, they waited to be rescued: to take the sailboat towards land was too dangerous, underwater rocky outcrops in the area could have capsized the boat.
For one hour people onboard waited for rescue, sent out from Kalamáta, 33 nautical miles away.
For a Lambro 57, this journey would take 45 minutes under perfect conditions and at max speed of 50 knots. In this specific case I believe that the Hellenic coast guard actually did their job, getting to location as fast as they could. But what followed is unfortunately a different story.
The Hellenic coast guard did not transfer the people onto their vessel. Instead, at 3am, they started towing the sailboat towards Kalamáta.
The weather wasn’t good, and the people on the sailboat were given no information about what was happening. They were scared of what would happen to them.
For the next six hours, two vessels from HCG towed the sailboat towards Kalamáta.
Aegean Boat Report had contact with the group throughout the night.
Several times while they were being towed, the rope used was destroyed, but at 9am they arrived in the Gulf of Kalamáta.
The people onboard had still not received any information from HCG on what would happen to them.
At 10.45 am, on 15 November, the people on the boat told Aegean Boat Report that a larger Greek coast guard vessel had arrived alongside them. Soon after, all contact with the group was lost, and the number used has been offline since.
That we lost contact with the people onboard the sailboat could just be them running out of power on their phones after a long night, but we found it worrying that this happened at the same time as a vessel from the Hellenic coast guard arrived alongside the boat.
We took comfort in the fact that HCG had responded to the emergency call rather quickly, and that they had towed the sailboat for six hours, 33 nautical miles, from Mezapos to Kalamáta, seemingly towards a port of safety.
Several days passed, and we weren’t able to reconnect with the group, which seemed suspicious because normally if people are taken to a camp, they recharge their phones.
There was also no information suggesting that people had been taken into Kalamáta, an area in which this kind of activity would usually make some headlines.
On Wednesday morning, 17 November, we made some inquiries, first to HCG headquarters in Piraeus, then port police in Kalamáta. Strangely, both said the same thing: they had no information on record of an incident outside Mezapos, and HCG had towed no boat to Kalamáta on the day in question, or the following days.
This confirmed our suspicion. People from this boat had been pushed back.
The photos the Turkish coastguard published were of too low quality to be useful, and a request was sent to see if they could provide additional footage.
It was actually difficult to believe that anyone would go to such lengths to push people back, to transport people across the Aegean Sea, over 600km, but we continued searching for them, in hope that we could figure out what really happened.
On 19 November, a number previously active on Whatsapp from the sailboat outside Kalamáta came online again.
We could finally get information about what really happened to this group, and what this man told us was just horrific.
In the morning of 15 November, a vessel from the Hellenic coast guard arrived and pulled up alongside the sailboat outside Kalamáta.
On the HCG vessel’s deck was a large group of armed masked men, in commando-like outfits with no officer numbers or other markings. They shouted that everyone had to come out of the boat, keep their hands up and be quiet.
They started transferring people from the sailboat at gunpoint, one by one, frisking everyone, removing their bags, taking papers, phones and money. Everything they found was confiscated. This was done by force, shouting, hitting people who didn’t follow their instructions, even those who did everything they asked were beaten, including women and children. Nobody was spared. “They were taking special interest in the women, ripping up their clothes in front of everyone”, the man said. ‘It was just a nightmare. I thought they were going to kill us.’
After everyone was onboard the coast guard ship, a 12 hour-long nightmare started.
People were abused, men and women were randomly removed from the group, beaten and brought back. The “commandos” had them guarded at all times, at gunpoint, and no-one was allowed to speak, or even look up.
No food or water was provided, even for the children. Everything was done to make this as hard as humanly possible for these people.
After more than 12 hours onboard the coast guard vessel everyone was forced into two life rafts. Those who refused were beaten and kicked. This is inhuman treatment by any standard, but they are only following orders, right? Why not enjoy it while doing so?
The idea is probably that if they treat them inhumanly enough, this will scare off others, and fewer people will try to cross the borders into Greece.
After hours drifting helplessly in the Aegean Sea in two life rafts, they were spotted by a Turkish fishing boat, and the Turkish coast guard was alerted.
At 6am 44 people, 41 Afghans, 2 Ukranians and 1 Iranian were found on the water outside Datcha, Turkey.
The people onboard the life rafts had no way to alert rescue services themselves, as all their phones had been confiscated by the Hellenic coast guard.
From pictures and videos provided from the people onboard the sailboat, there is absolutely no doubt that it was the same people who was found and picked up from two life rafts outside Datcha.
The problem is, we keep writing about incidents like this. And we will continue to do so until they stop happening.
We note that the law is extraordinarily-clear: every man, woman and child on Earth is absolutely entitled to travel to anywhere they want to, with or without paperwork, in order to apply for asylum.
The country that they reach must allow them to enter, and must treat their asylum applications with seriousness and care – even if they choose in the end to deny them the right to remain.
But cases like this go way beyond conversations about international law – however simple and clear those laws might be.
Because what the Greek government is doing – with the full backing on the European Union – is using its coastguard, which is supposed to rescue and protect people, instead to beat them, steal their possessions, humiliate and abuse them, before setting them adrift on the open sea.
You do not need to be an expert on international – or any other kind of – law to know that this is illegal, or indeed that it is wrong.
We are living through a period in which in the EU’s south-easternmost corner, a life-saving service has been replaced with uniformed thugs. An emergency response operation has become a militia.
Should the human race survive long enough, people will look back at this and ask: ‘How?’ How could the wealthiest political unit ever to have existed have sunk to such depths that it would allow one of its member states to savage vulnerable men, women and children in this way?
How was a government allowed to pervert a life-saving service and turn it into a violent sea militia? And how did people stand by and let it happen?
Because that is what is happening. It is happening now, on our ‘watch’. And we will be correctly judged as inhuman if we keep sitting back and letting it continue.
In the early hours of Saturday, 20 November, a boat carrying 34 people landed north east of Ákra Agreliós, Lesvos south. Immediately after arriving, the group hid in the woods in the surrounding area, afraid that if found by police, they would return them illegally to Turkey.
At 04.45 they contacted Aegean Boat Report for assistance, asking for help, they had nobody they could trust, and asked for advice on how to be taken to a camp, they wanted to apply for asylum.
In the following hours they provide pictures, videos, voice messages and location data, to document their presence on Lesvos, there was no doubt that they in fact was on the island.
At 10.31 the Greek Helsinki Monitor sent an email to the authorities, UNHCR, the Greek Ombudsman and NGOs to inform of their presence, and that the new arrivals wanted to apply for asylum. Their location was not reviled, to avoid that they were found by police and removed from the island, hopefully someone would intervene, unfortunately this did not happen.
Throughout the day and afternoon Aegean Boat Report had contact with the group, they had now split up, only 19 people, 4 children, 5 women and 10 men remained from the original 34, where the remaining 15 people had gone they didn’t know.
At 21.30 the group started moving north, away from a location they found to be unsafe, due to the inhabitants close to their hideout. Walking in the woods in the dark, is difficult, especially when you do not know the area, and can’t use any lights in fear of being spotted by police.
The group walked most of the night, and at first light they contacted Aegean Boat Report again, this time, at 06.45 on Sunday morning, gave a new location, this time south west of Agrilia Kratigou. The group had found five people who had left them the day before, now they were 23 people, 4 children, 4 women and 15 men. One of the women in the group had left at night in the dark, leaving her child behind, she was not seen again.
Throughout Sunday the group walked north until they found a dirt track south west of the Airport at 20.30. They started following this road west, and at 22.42 Aegean Boat Report received a new location, this time close to the Church Ekklisia Panagia Amáli.
Aegean Boat Report had tried to advise them not to walk further away from populated areas, from the first time they made contact. We firmly believe that their best chances to avoid illegal pushbacks, is to be seen by locals. This group constantly did the opposite of what we advised them to do, to scared to even trust the people they had asked to help them. Now they were in the middle of the woods, far away from the eyes of the public, and by doing so in more danger than ever before.
The church is a well known landmark on Lesvos, and they sent several pictures of them in front of the Church, it would now be extremely difficult to deny their presence on the island, or impossible. If found and returned illegally, it would be difficult for local authorities to say that they had found no people at this church, nevertheless they did.
At Monday morning, November 22, 06.20, Aegean Boat Report spoke with the group. They were hiding in the woods close to the church, they could see a car pulling up in front of the church, they believed it was the police. At 07.09 all contact with the group was lost, and the phones haven’t been turned on since.
After several days on Lesvos, hiding in the woods, with no support, no food and water, we hoped that the group had been found with the intention to take them to a safe place, provide support and be given the opportunity to apply for asylum, unfortunately this didn’t happen.
From one single picture published by the Turkish coast guard, we can positively identify 12 people from the group that had arrived on Lesvos on November 20, this was the group we had followed for two days.
Comparing pictures, identifying people, is many times difficult and time consuming, often because of the quality of the material provided. This time it was actually quite straight forward, due to the fact that the group had constantly sent pictures of themselves and their surroundings.
From the group of 34, 23 people, men, women and children had been forcibly removed from a Greek island, robbed of all belongings, bags, papers, money and phones, taken onboard a Greek coast guard vessel and left drifting in a life raft by the Hellenic coast guard. To be able to perform these atrocities the Greek coast guard would need a special kind of people, cruel and sadistic, without remorse, the kind of people who we thought we never would see again in Europe after the Second World War, but her we are again, it seems that we have learned nothing from our previous mistakes.
The remaining 11 people from this group we believe mostly have been registered in Maurovouni quarantine facility on Lesvos, two arrived on Monday and eight on Wednesday, all by walking directly to the camp. The missing mother from the group we have no information on so far. An additional 16 people was registered on Wednesday from a separate landing. Strangely enough the Greek government seems to have listed all 26 as arrived in camp on Wednesday, and nobody the previous days, for what reasons, besides incompetence, we don`t know.
Information sent out to UNHCR and the Greek Ombudsman had zero effect, the group even tried to send messages directly to the Greek UNHCR Protection Helpline, they didn’t get any reply, they were met with silence. What UNHCR Greece is protecting is difficult to say, most likely their fat salaries, but certainly not vulnerable people seeking protection.
This case was published by Aegean Boat Report, Greek Helsinki Monitor and local newspapers, it was online on websites, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, seen by thousands of people, hundreds of NGOs, many who are present on Lesvos, but nobody stepped up, nobody intervened, this is shocking. Where are the organizations claiming to be “monitoring the borders”, protecting vulnerable people, and what practical significance do they have, besides posting statistics and big words in fancy reports now and then? Whenever they are called upon to actually do some work, to actually get their hands dirty, they act like headless chickens, running around without any purpose or meaning, in my book they are a joke, and should probably close down their operation, they are actually doing more harm than good. The organizations founded on the pillars to protect the most vulnerable people, turner’s their back every single day on the very people they were supposed to protect in the first place, with the excuses of “protecting” their operation. Unfortunately these “operations” are often done in a way that brings in huge funds, especially for the organizations founders, who have fancy titles and a salary that matches the title.
Once again, people have been forcibly and violently removed from Greece. In this instance, 23 people, men, women and children, were taken back to sea and forced into a small life raft, left drifting in the Aegean Sea by the “heroes” of the proud Hellenic coast guard.
Violations of international laws and human rights unfortunately happens every day in Greece, on orders from the Greek government. And the rest of Europe looks the other way and pretends nothing is happening as the rights of men women and children, seeking protection are violated.
There is no longer any doubt on what’s going on in Greece, and who is responsible, this has been thoroughly documented and proven.
The people responsible for this and hundreds of other illegal pushbacks involving thousands of vulnerable men, women and children seeking decent, safe places to live and work – Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greek Minister of Migration and Asylum Notis Mitarachi and Greek Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy Ioannis Plakiotakis – should be removed from office and charged with crimes against humanity.
Meanwhile, the unwillingness by European politicians to stop these atrocities is a mockery of the European Union, and its claims to stand for decency, law and decent human standards.
A group of approximately 30 people that arrived on Kos during the night, was found and arrested by police at first light this morning. Instead of taking them to a quarantine facility, they were taken to Kos port, and back to sea by the Hellenic coast guard(HCG).
Exactly what boat they used to transport them away from Kos is so far not determined, from what little footage we received, we can only be sure that the vessel was grey. From the video we can see some distinguished details on the boat, and for a investigative journalist it would be possible to find this boat on Kos. Unfortunately local Journslist on most of the Aegean islands are more interested investing their own bellybutton, than anything related to disappearing refugees, Kos is no different.
To geolocate the video from the typography of the mountains in the background shouldn’t be to difficult, and will prove that what is on the video is the south east side of Kos.
What on the other hand is quite interesting in this very short video, is that the people are, for some reason, sitting under a white tarpaulin. It could of course be that the kind and caring officers of the Hellenic coast guard wanted to protect the people from the harsh weather, before throwing them into life rafts, but doesn’t sound very likely. We believe that people were placed under this white tarpaulin so that local spectators couldn’t see what the coast guard was transporting, since the boat was heading out of Kos harbor at 10.00 Greek time. But if locals now remember that they actually observed this vessel from HCG, and wondered what they were transporting, under this white tarpaulin, here’s the answer, people.
Usually the Hellenic coast guard is quite thorough when removing especially phones from people they are planing on pushing back, this time they they overlooked at least one. Aegean Boat Report received videos and location data when they were taken out from Kos harbor by HCG, later a second video and location after they had been abandoned in two life rafts, helplessly drifting inside Turkish waters south east of Kos.
From voice messages sent to Aegean Boat Report after they had been left drifting in the life rafts, it is quite clear who was responsible.
This is unfortunately happening every single day in the Aegean Sea, so far this year over 14.000 people have been pushed back by the Hellenic coast guard, on direct orders from the Greek government, a government who still denies any involvement in pushbacks, but admits “turning people in boats around in Greek waters, and sending them back to Turkey”, as if it’s something different than a pushback, it’s not.
But the Greek government doesn’t stop by only pushing boats back at sea, they also remove people who already have arrived on Greek islands, robbing them of all belongings, money, papers and phones, before taking them back to sea, and force them into life rafts, leaving them helplessly drifting. Since March 2020 almost 450 life rafts have been found drifting in the Aegean Sea carrying close to 8000 people, nobody seems to wonder how this happened.
These actions by the Greek Government is of course illegal, not only according to international laws, but also a violation of international human rights and the law of the sea. The EU commission seems happy with the Greek effort on being the “shield of Europe”, and continues pouring money and Frontex resources into Greece, to support their efforts on keeping Europe “safe from these invaders” of men, women and children seeking safety in Europe.
Artwork By Yorgos Konstantinou
The case from Kos will be updated as soon as more information is made available for Aegean Boar Report.
That people disappear from time to time, for many reasons, is well known all over the world, but that large groups of people magically disappears, on a daily basis in Europe, is uncommon, at least it was.
Over the last 19 months large groups of refugees has kept disappearing after arriving on the Greek Aegean island, only to resurface hours or days later, drifting in life rafts in the Aegean Sea. Greek authorities seemingly baffled by these magical events, seems to have know answers on these heavenly interventions.
In the last 19 months almost 8000 people have magically disappeared after arriving on the Greek Aegean islands, only to have been found in a total of 450 life rafts drifting in the Aegean Sea. A magic show that would have put even David Copperfield in the shadows, if it in fact was magic, it’s not, it’s an systematic violation of international laws and human rights performed by the Greek authorities.
A boat carrying 26 people landed in Dotia area, between Emporio and Vroulidia, Chios south east before first light on October 21.
The appropriate authorities was notified, given all details on the new arrivals, also that they wish to apply for asylum by email from Panayote Dimitras, Greek Helsinki Minitor (GHM).
From information in the local online news Astraparis, port police on chios told the journalist that they had no information on this incident, besides a email from the NGO Greek Helsinki Monitor, and referred to the local police.
According to the General Regional Police Directorate of the North Aegean, nobody had been found, but they were still searching. This was most likely not true, and the intention was not to officially find them at all, so that they magically disappeared during the night, as so many before them.
From looking at the official arrival information published by the Greek authorities no arrivals was registered on Chios this day, nor the following days.
From a video taken in the hills north east of Broulidia Beach, published in local news, all doubts on if they in fact had been on Chios, is removed, any local will confirm that the location is on Chios.
The Greek deputy Ombudsman, George P. Nikolopoulos, Department of human rights, sent a letter to Border Protection Police, Chios Police, Samos Police on 15/11 – copied to GHM, asking questions regarding the incident and the whereabouts of these people.
The arrival was thoroughly documented, not only was pictures, videos and geolocation data received, but also detailed personal information on all who arrived in this group. All this information was provided to the appropriate authorities.
Their arrival was published by the Greek Helsinki Monitor, Astraparis, EFSYN and Aegean Boat Report, no information was provided by the authorities, and no people was officially found on Chios.
From pictures published by TCG, there is absolutely no doubt, it’s the same people who the previous day arrived on Chios.
Several people from the group is positively identified in both pictures and videos taken on Chios, and pictures and videos published by TCG.
The question is not if it’s them, because it is, the questions is how did they end up in these life rafts and who was responsible for putting them there.
Greek authorities continues to deny any involvement in these pushbacks, lying to both the EU Commision and international journalists. It has been proven, without a doubt, that these pushbacks are performed by the Hellenic coast guard and special forces belonging to the Greek armed forces, on direct orders from the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. All do he pretends to have no knowledge on these atrocities, it’s unlikely that a head of state is unaware of massive operations undertaken by it’s coast guard and armed forces over the last 19 months.
The EU commission seems to be unwilling to put necessary pressure on Greece to try to put and end to this illegal and systematic violations of international law and human rights, performed by a member state. Our fundamental European values are undermined by the very people we have put to protect them.
In the early hours of today, November 8, a boat carrying 31 people, 14 men, 14 women and 3 children, tried to cross from Ayvacik, Turkey to Lesvos north.
Aegean Boat Report received an emergency call at 05.13, from the Greek Turkish sea border, people onboard was under attack by a two engine RIB, five men in dark uniforms, carrying guns, faces covered with balaclavas.
On the phone people were screaming, and we could clearly hear a power engine in the background, not the small engine like these rubber boats are fitted with, but something significantly more powerful. The phone went dead, and connecting was lost.
Three hours later, at 08.00, the group came online again, they asked for help, they said that the soldiers had removed the engine on the boat, and that they were drifting. We received a location from whatsapp, that seemed to be inside Greek waters, but difficult to pinpoint the border exactly. From pictures received, taken early this day, we could clearly see that the engine was missing.
Aegean Boat Report contacted the Port Police on Lesvos, the call took over 9 minutes, because they were far more interested in who I was and how I knew, than in the people helplessly drifting inside their territory waters. The woman on the phone at the port police office in Mytilíni suddenly seemed to have lost most of her English skills, and mumbled something about checking the incident before she just hung up the phone.
As a routine, in all case where there can be doubts on where exactly a boat is located at the border, the Turkish coast guard was also called. This call took under one minute, all information was given, and the operator on the other end could inform me that the position given was inside Greek territory waters.
Another four hour passed, an at 11.50 the group was online again, this time from a different phone number. Aegean Boat Report received pictures and videos from a life raft, we could clearly see two rafts filled with people, the same people who was drifting in a rubber dinghy without an engine four hours prior.
A new location was sent, and strangely enough this group had managed to not only move 44km, 24 nautical miles, in a boat without an engine, in four hours, but also magically managed to change transportation equipment from a rubber boat to two life rafts. How this magic act had been performed, well we don’t need to be rocket scientists to understand.
The two life rafts, carrying 31 people was drifting south west of Ayvalik, and again Aegean Boat Report called the Turkish coast guard. The operator on the other end told me that they know about the two rafts, and that a coast guard vessel was already on the way to the location, they had received a fax from the Greek Coast Guard, informing them about the two rafts drifting inside Turkish territory waters, and the operator said that this was standard procedure after a pushback by the Greek Coast Guard. After a pushback, the Hellenic Coast Guard is kind enough to inform their counterparts on the whereabouts of their pushback victims by fax, that’s just brilliant.
What happened would have been quite amusing, if it hadn’t been for the severity of the situation. The Hellenic Coast Guard had made one crucial mistake when they removed the engine of the rubber boat, and left people drift north of Lesvos. The boat didn’t drift towards Turkey, instead it drifted south east towards Lesvos, not exactly what they had in mind, and something they needed to correct.
31 people was picked up by the Hellenic Coast Guard, transported out of the area and forced into two life rafts. Onboard the Hellenic Coast Guard vessel they stripped them of what little they had, bags, money, papers and phones, but one phone they didn’t find, the one they used to contact Aegean Boat Report. Somewhere west of Ayvalik they had been left drifting, and the Hellenic Coast Guard had corrected their mistake.
We can easily conclude that they didn’t manage to move from a rubber dinghy to life rafts by themselves, and travel 44 km without an engine in four hours. Another example of the handiwork performed by the Hellenic Coast Guard, on behalf of the Greek government.
A group of 36 people, that supposedly have been held captive for several days on the island of Farmakonisi by Greek officials, contacted Aegean Boat Report for assistance.
The group of 36, 24 men, 6 women and 6 children, all from Palestine, has informed Aegean Boat Report that they wishes to apply for asylum in Greece.
So far they claim to have received nor food nor water, and been kept like animals in a small area surrounded by barb wire, only shelter is a small shed next to the port.
From pictures, videos and location data sent to Aegean Boat Report, there are no doubt that they are on Farmakonisi.
Also from pictures we can clearly see a Lambro Halmatic 60, ΛΣ 514, belonging to the Hellenic Coast Guard anchored at the port, the vessel most likely belongs to the port police on Leros.
The fate of the 36 on Farmakonisi is unknown, contact with the group was lost earlier today. No reports on people being transported to Leros, and we fear that they will be deported in life rafts in the Aegean Sea if nobody intervenes.
Update 12:00
Port Police on Leros say they know nothing of this incident, something that seems very strange. 36 people have been held captive on the inhabited island for days.
This morning the ΛΣ 514 left and a Lambro 57 coastal patrol boat took its place in the port, ID number ΛΣ 612, belonging to the port police on, yes you guessed correct, Leros.
They are obviously lying, and the reason for these lies, well we can online imagine, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.
The situation on the Greek Aegean islands is totally out of control, more and more people are being pushed back after arriving on the Greek islands. The evidence is very clear, it had been documented for 19 months without any action taken by the EU commission, it’s not only an embarrassment for the Greek people, but for the whole of Europe.
It’s time for the EU Commission to intervene, this madness has been going on far to long already
