REFUGEES in at least four boats off the coast of Cyprus have told activists they “fear they will die of hunger” as the country’s coastguard refuse to let them come ashore — an apparent breach of international maritime and refugee law.
The activist-run distress hotline organisation Alarm Phone initially received an SOS from 73 people in two boats on their way to Cyprus yesterday.
“They report that they have been at sea for four days and some people are sick. They have no food and water left,” Alarm Phone said on Tuesday morning.
“There is no fuel left, and they cannot continue their journey.”
The travellers contacted Alarm Phone throughout the day, saying that the coastguard vessels were “blocking both boats” and refusing to give them any assistance.
In another SOS call yesterday, the stranded told Alarm Phone that the coastguards had “threatened them with guns and were told to go back to Syria.”
Amnesty International expressed alarm at the situation yesterday, and called on the Cypriot authorities to “take immediate action to ensure the safety of people at sea by providing for their prompt rescue and disembarkation in a place of safety, and refrain from any actions that could result in their refoulement, including their return to Syria.”
This morning, Alarm Phone’s team was contacted by people on two more boats in the same situation with Cyprus’s maritime authorities.
The activists have repeatedly alerted the Cyprus Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) to the people in distress. But the authorities have either ignored them or claimed the distressed are not their responsibility.
But international maritime law requires sea captains of any vessel at sea to “proceed with all possible speed to the rescue of persons in distress” and to deliver them to a place of safety.
Local media reported on Tuesday that four navy and coastguard vessels had reached five boats carrying about 500 passengers about 65 nautical miles from the coast of Cyprus, and were trying to prevent them reaching the island.
Today, the Cyprus Mail reported that two boats had been pushed back to Lebanon.
Alarm Phone’s last update about the stranded today said: “One of the groups report that [the coastguard] told them they will never reach Cyprus and must return to Syria.
“This breaches the Refugee Convention and puts their lives at extreme risk.”
Earlier this week, the Cypriot government announced that it would no longer process asylum applications from Syrian passport holders. And last week, the country’s President Nicos Christodoulides visited Lebanon to discuss ways to stop the boat departures.
Mr Christodoulides’ government is also attempting to convince the European Union to designate parts of war-torn Syria as “safe zones” in order to make deportations easier.
Cyprus JRCC was approached for comment.
The Civil Fleet 