77 PEOPLE WERE TAKING ON WATER. GREEK AUTHORITIES WERE ALERTED. HOURS LATER, ONE WAS DEAD AND 25 WERE MISSING. Another deadly shipwreck has taken place south of Gavdos — but this time there are serious questions about what happened before the boat sank. At 14:58 on September 13, Alarm Phone publicly raised the alarm for 77 people in distress south of Crete. Relatives of people onboard reported that water was entering the boat and the group was very afraid. Alarm Phone stated that it had contacted the Hellenic Coast Guard in Piraeus, which said it would investigate. The situation was therefore not simply a boat later discovered after an accident. Greek authorities had reportedly been warned that 77 people were at sea on a leaking vessel and needed rescue. Hours later, the consequences became clear. A vessel carrying 77 people was found partially submerged approximately 38 nautical miles south of Gavdos. 51 people survived. One person is dead. Approximately 25 people remain missing. Alarm Phone believes this was the same boat it had reported hours earlier. The identical number of people — 77 — strongly supports that connection. Alarm Phone has made an even more serious allegation: that Greek authorities initially responded that Libyan authorities should be the ones to rescue the boat. Aegean Boat Report has not independently verified that exchange, and we therefore attribute this information directly to Alarm Phone. But one fact urgently requires explanation: Greek authorities were reportedly informed in the afternoon that 77 people were in distress and their boat was taking on water. Why were dozens of them dead or missing hours later? According to media reports, the 51 survivors were eventually rescued by merchant vessels. The wider operation involved Hellenic Coast Guard assets and a substantial Frontex presence, including several vessels and aerial surveillance assets. And this was not an unknown or unexpected route. THE WATERS SOUTH OF CRETE ARE BEING HEAVILY MONITORED Arrivals from Libya to Crete and Gavdos have increased dramatically this year, with thousands of people arriving along this route. Greek authorities and Frontex have responded with extensive maritime and aerial surveillance. Only days before this tragedy, Frontex drones detected several refugee boats south of Gavdos, leading to successful interceptions and rescues. In recent cases, Frontex drones have detected boats 39–42 nautical miles south of Gavdos. This shipwreck happened approximately 38 nautical miles south of Gavdos. That does not prove that Frontex detected this particular boat before it sank. But it demonstrates something important: This is a known route, in a known operational area, under active surveillance by Greek and European authorities. So what happened on September 13? When did the Hellenic Coast Guard formally receive the distress information? What coordinates were provided? When was EKSED/MRCC Piraeus informed? When were rescue assets dispatched? Where were the nearest Hellenic Coast Guard and Frontex vessels? Were Frontex surveillance aircraft or drones monitoring the area? When did the first rescue asset actually reach the boat? And did Greek authorities, as Alarm Phone alleges, initially attempt to place responsibility for the rescue on Libya? There may be answers to these questions that have not yet been made public. But Greek authorities and Frontex now have an obligation to provide them. Because somewhere between the distress warning in the afternoon and the rescue operation later that day, a boat carrying 77 people partially sank. One person is dead. Approximately 25 people are still missing. This cannot be reduced to another statistic from the Mediterranean. We need to know what happened during those hours — and whether these lives could have been saved.

#Refugees who reported crossing into #Greece say they were attacked by a group of masked men with knives. The woman said: "We are now in Greece and masked people are coming." @UNHCRGreece @migrationgovgr @MigrationGrInfo @Refugees @ECHR_CEDH @UNHCRGreece #Evros Via/@Tr724