On 10.15 Lighthouse Relief (LHR) and Refugee Rescue spotters at Lepetimnos reported a dinghy being intercepted by Lithuanian Frontex just inside of the Greek border. Refugee Rescue requested permission to launch MoChara. However, Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG) denied permission to launch. No explanation was given as to why but HCG said they would call Refugee Rescue if assistance was required.
According to visuals provided by LHR and RR spotters, Frontex was sporadic in it’s attempts to guide the dinghy to a safe location, while the nose of the dinghy was starting to deflate.
When Refugee Rescue received information that the migrant vessel was deflating, the coordinator called HCG to provide this updated information, again requesting permission to launch. Initially HCG said they could not understand, and requested we speak to the UNHCR coordinator for the North Shore.
RR called back with a native Greek speaker to translate and provide the information pertaining to the state of the dinghy, but again the crew were denied permission to launch. HCG said the dinghy would land within 5 minutes and no assistance was required.
SAR organisation: Refugee Rescue
SAR asset: Mo Chara
Incident type: Order to stay away by EU authority
Date of SAR (UTC): 22/08/2018
Time of first information received (UTC): 22/08/2018 10:15 am
Source of first information for the NGO: Own detection
Starting time of first sighting / engagement with target boat in distress (UTC): 22/08/2018 10:15 am
Vessels
Number of migrant boats: 1
Type of migrant boat(s): Rubber dinghy
Number of people on board per boat: 62 people in total: 29 children, 17 women, 16 men
Other vessels in the vicinity (e.g. unidentified / cargo / aircrafts): Lithuanian Frontex
Actors involved (by asset / institution type): FRONTEX vessel (Lithuania); Greek Port Police
Location
Region of Mediterranean: Eastern Mediterranean
Survivors
Total number of survivors: 62
Number of identified (accompanied) children: 25
Number of identified unaccompanied minors: 4
Number of identified pregnant women: 1
Number of identified medical evacuation cases: 0