yacht capsized greece

They knew the boat could sink. Boarding it didn’t feel like a choice.

The story of how as many as 750 migrants came to board a rickety blue fishing trawler and end up in one of the Mediterranean’s deadliest shipwrecks is bigger than any one of the victims. But for everyone, it started somewhere, and for Thaer Khalid al-Rahal it started with cancer.

The leukemia diagnosis for his youngest son, 4-year-old Khalid , came early last year. The family had been living in a Jordanian refugee camp for a decade, waiting for official resettlement after fleeing Syria’s bitter war, and doctors said the United Nations’ refugee agency could help cover treatment costs. But agency funds dwindled and the child’s case worsened. When doctors said Khalid needed a bone-marrow transplant, the father confided in relatives that waiting to relocate through official channels was no longer an option. He needed to get to Europe to earn money and save his son.

“Thaer thought he didn’t have a choice,” said his cousin, Abdulrahman Yousif al-Rahal, reached by phone in the Jordanian refugee camp of Zaatari.

In Egypt, the journey for Mohamed Abdelnasser, 27, started with a creeping realization that his carpentry work could not earn enough to support his wife and two sons.

For Matloob Hussain, 42, it began the day his Greek residency renewal was rejected, sending him back to Pakistan, where his salary helped put food on the table for 20 extended family members amid a crippling economic crisis.

“Europe doesn’t understand,” said his brother Adiil Hussain, interviewed in Greece where they had lived together. “We don’t leave because we want to. There is simply nothing for us in Pakistan.”

At least 79 dead, hundreds missing in year’s deadliest wreck off Greece

On Matloob’s earlier journey to Europe, he had been so scared of the water that he kept his eyes closed the whole time. This time, the smugglers promised him they would take him to Italy. They said they would use “a good boat.”

The trawler left from the Libyan port city of Tobruk on June 9. Just 104 survivors have reached the Greek mainland. Eighty-two bodies have been recovered, and hundreds more have been swallowed by the sea.

As the Mediterranean became a stage for tragedy on June 14, a billionaire and several businessmen were preparing for their own voyage in the North Atlantic. The disappearance of their submersible as it dove toward the wreckage of the Titanic sparked a no-expenses-spared search-and-rescue mission and rolling headlines . The ship packed with refugees and migrants did not.

In missing submersible and migrant disaster, a tale of two Pakistans

About half the passengers are believed to have been from Pakistan. The country’s interior minister said Friday that an estimated 350 Pakistanis were on board , and that many may have died. Of the survivors from the boat, 47 are Syrian, 43 Egyptian, 12 Pakistani and two Palestinian.

Some of the people on the trawler were escaping war. Many were family breadwinners, putting their own lives on the line to help others back home. Some were children. A list of the missing from two towns in the Nile Delta carries 43 names. Almost half of them are under 18 years old.

This account of what pushed them to risk a notoriously dangerous crossing is based on interviews with survivors in Greece and relatives of the dead in Pakistan, Jordan and Egypt, as the news sent ripples of distress throughout communities from North Africa to South Asia. Some people spoke on the condition of anonymity, because they feared being drawn into government crackdowns on human smuggling networks.

Rahal’s family said they do not know how he contacted the smugglers in Libya, but remember watching as he creased under the fatigue and shame of having to ask anyone he could for the thousands of dollars they were requesting for safe passage to Italy.

Greek and E.U. policies under scrutiny after devastating shipwreck

Thirteen men left from El Na’amna village, south of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, in the hope of achieving the same. Ten miles away in Ibrash, another village, Abdelnasser left the house as he usually did for his 2 a.m. factory shift but joined a packed car to Libya instead, along with 29 other young men and boys. “He told us nothing,” said his father, Amr. “We would have stopped him.”

Many of the families said the departures caught them by surprise and that local intermediaries working for the smugglers later communicated with relatives in Egypt to gather the requested funds.

In El Na’amna, several people said the figure was $4,500 per person — a sum impossibly high for most rural Egyptians. In Ibrash, Abdelnasser’s uncle said, two of the delegates who arrived to collect the money were disguised in women’s dress. Another woman did the talking. She collected the money, photographed receipts, and then told the family that the deal was done.

‘He said the boat was very bad’

The time spent waiting in Libya was harder than the migrants expected, said family members who spoke with them throughout that period. The port city of Tobruk had become a transit hub for people, and the migrants reported that the smugglers treated them like goods to be traded. The lucky ones rented cramped apartments where they could wait near the bright blue sea.

Travelers who had arranged to meet their intermediaries in the city of Benghazi were transported in large refrigerator trucks to the desert. One survivor described a house there “with a big yard and big walls and people at the door with guns.” It was so busy that people slept in the yard outside. Inside, a 24-year-old Pakistani migrant, Bilal Hassan, tried to lighten the mood by reciting Punjabi poetry. He is smiling in the video he sent his family, but other men in the room look tense.

Some migrants told their families they were getting anxious and didn’t trust their smugglers. Others sent brief messages to reassure and say that they were fine.

Rahal spoke to his wife, Nermin, every day. A month passed with no news of onward passage and his mood darkened. He worried about Khalid. In Jordan, the boy kept asking when he would see his father again. “I don’t know,” Rahal texted in reply. When one smuggler’s offer fell through, he found another who promised to get the job done faster. In voice messages to his cousin, he sounded tired.

“I’ll manage to get the money,” he said.

His last call to his wife was June 8. Men from the smuggling network were yelling at the migrants to pack together as closely as possible in rubber dinghies that would take them to the trawler. Up ahead, the blue fishing boat looked like it was already full.

Matloob Hussein, the Pakistani who had lived in Greece, called his brother from the trawler. “He said the boat was very bad,” Adiil recounted. “He said they had loaded people on the boat like cattle. He said he was below deck and that he preferred it so he didn’t have to see that he was surrounded by water.”

When Adiil asked why his brother hadn’t refused to board, Matloob said the smugglers had guns and knives. As the boat pulled out of Tobruk’s concrete port, he told Adiil he was turning his phone off — he did not expect to have a signal again until they arrived.

After the calls to loved ones stopped, from the foothills of Kashmir to the villages of the Nile Delta, families held their breath.

It felt, said one relative, like a film that had just stopped halfway through.

In hometowns and villages, waiting for news

News of the blue trawler’s capsize trickled out on the morning of June 14. The coast guard’s initial report said that at least 17 people had drowned while noting that more than 100 had been saved. On the Greek mainland, relatives waited for updates in the baking sun outside a migrant reception center. Back in hometowns and villages, some people kept their cellphones plugged into the power sockets so they did not risk missing a call.

The residents of El Na’amna and Ibrash didn’t know what to do. Police arrested a local smuggler but provided no updates on the whereabouts of the missing. Rumors swirled that most were dead. The mother of 23-year-old Amr Elsayed described a grief so full that she felt as if she were burning.

A Pakistani community leader in Greece, Javed Aslam, said he was in direct contact with more than 200 families asking for news. Accounts from survivors suggested that almost all the Pakistani passengers, along with many women and children, had been stuck on the lower levels of the boat as it went down.

Adiil came looking for his brother. He was turned away from the hospital where survivors had been treated, but left his details anyway. Outside the Malakasa reception center, where the survivors were staying, 15 miles north of Athens, several Pakistanis seemed to know Matloob as “the man in the yellow T-shirt.” No one had seen him since the wreck.

Perhaps it was crazy, Adiil said Thursday, but somehow he still had hope. He had registered his DNA with the local authorities and he had spoken to other families there every day. Now he didn’t know what to do with himself. His eyes were red from crying. He carried creased photographs of his brother in his pocket.

In one image, Matloob is standing with his dark-eyed daughter, 10-year-old Arfa. Adiil had told the girl that her father was in the hospital, but that fiction was weighing more on him by the day as she kept asking why they couldn’t speak.

Khalid had been asking for his father, too, but no one knew how to make a 4-year-old understand something they barely understood themselves.

Nermin, relatives said, was “in bad shape.” She had a funeral to organize without a body. But first she had to take Khalid to the hospital for his biopsy, to learn how far the cancer had spread.

Loveluck reported from London, Labropoulou from Athens, O’Grady and Mahfouz from Cairo and Noack from Paris. Haq Nawaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, Claire Parker in Washington, Imogen Piper in London and Mustafa Salim in Baghdad contributed to this report.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that the trawler left the Libyan port city of Tobruk on June 8. It left a few hours later on June 9. The article has been corrected.

At least 79 dead, more than 100 rescued near Greece after boat carrying migrants capsizes

The boat was initially bound for italy, but flipped near greece.

At least 79 people are dead and more than 100 have been rescued after a fishing boat with migrants aboard capsized near the coast of Greece on Wednesday.

The boat capsized overnight 45 miles southwest of Pylos, Greece, in the country's southern Peloponnese peninsula, the Greek coast guard said Wednesday . Members of Greece's coast guard, navy and air force have been searching the waters with a helicopter, lifeboat, navy frigate and two patrol boats.

Authorities said Wednesday that 79 bodies had been recovered and 104 people had been rescued. Survivors have been transferred to the Peloponnese city of Kalamata by ship, where they were met by the United Nations Refugee Agency, which provided medical attention and dry clothes. Four people were taken to the General Hospital of Kalamata by helicopter with hypothermia symptoms.

None of the survivors were wearing life jackets, authorities said. The number of people who are missing or may still be in the sea had not been released.

More: Victim identified in fatal capsizing of cave tour boat in Lockport

Capsized boat believed to have originated in Libya

Greek authorities and the European Union border protection agency Frontex were first alerted about the boat, which was heading for Italy, during the day Tuesday. The boat is believed to be from eastern Libya, which has faced human trafficking and emigration problems since an uprising killed autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

After the first alert, a Frontex aircraft and two merchant ships spotted the boat sailing north, according to the Greek coast guard. A coast guard patrol boat headed for the area while a coast guard helicopter monitored the vessel.

The coast guard said it tried repeatedly to call the ship and offer help, but all requests were declined.

“In the afternoon a merchant vessel approached the ship and provided it with food and supplies, while the (passengers) refused any further assistance,” it said.

After supplying the ship with food, a second merchant ship approached the fishing boat with more supplies and assistance, which was declined. Tuesday evening, a Greece coast guard patrol boat approached the ship and saw a "large number of migrants on the deck" who declined help and expressed that they wanted to continue their voyage.

The coast guard patrol boat moved alongside the ship before it ultimately capsized early Wednesday.

Alarm Phone, a help line designed for people who are sailing across the Mediterranean Sea, said in a tweet that it received reports of a ship in distress Wednesday near the same area where the migrant ship went down.

The U.N.'s International Organization for Migration tweeted Wednesday that the capsizing was a "tragedy in the Aegean" and that some reports said 400 people were on board.

Contributing: Nicholas Paphitis, Sam Magdy and Renata Brito, The Associated Press

More on U.S. capsizing events: US Coast Guard rescues 4 people in one week after boats capsize near Oregon

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At least 78 dead and dozens feared missing after fishing boat sinks off Greece

Updated on: June 14, 2023 / 8:19 PM EDT / CBS/AP

A fishing boat carrying migrants capsized and sank off the coast of Greece on Wednesday, authorities said, leaving at least 78 people dead and many dozens feared missing in one of the worst disasters of its kind this year.

Coast guard, navy and merchant vessels fanned out for a vast search-and-rescue operation that also included a plane and a helicopter.

Authorities said 104 people have been rescued so far after the boat sank overnight in international waters some 45 miles southwest of Greece's southern Peloponnese peninsula. The spot is close to one of the deepest areas of the Mediterranean Sea.

It was unclear how many passengers might still be in the water or trapped in the sunken vessel, but some initial reports suggested hundreds of people may have been on board.

Four survivors were hospitalized with symptoms of hypothermia. At the southern port of Kalamata, dozens of others were taken to sheltered areas set up by the ambulance services and the United Nations Refugee Agency to receive dry clothes and medical attention.

The Greek coast guard said 78 bodies have been recovered so far.

The Italy-bound boat is believed to have sailed from the Tobruk area in eastern Libya. That country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Human traffickers have benefited from the ensuing instability and made Libya one of the main departure points for people attempting to reach Europe on smugglers' boats.

The Italian coast guard first alerted Greek authorities and the European Union border protection agency, Frontex, about the approaching vessel on Tuesday.

The United Nations migration agency, IOM, said initial reports suggested up to 400 people were on board. A network of activists said it received a distress call from a boat in the same area whose passengers said 750 people were on board — but it was not clear if that was the vessel that sank.

‼️ A shipwreck occurred today off Pylos, Greece according to @HCoastGuard . So far 104 survivors were brought to shore while 32 bodies were recovered. Search and rescue efforts continue and we fear more lives were lost. Initial reports suggest up to 400 people were onboard. pic.twitter.com/7TBTWiHs84 — IOM - UN Migration 🇺🇳 (@UNmigration) June 14, 2023

After that first alert, Frontex aircraft and two merchant ships spotted the boat heading north at high speed, according to the Greek coast guard. More aircraft and ships were sent to the area.

But repeated calls to the vessel offering help were declined, the coast guard said in a statement.

"In the afternoon a merchant vessel approached the ship and provided it with food and supplies, while the (passengers) refused any further assistance," it said. A second merchant ship that approached it later offered further supplies and assistance, which were turned down, it added.

In the evening, a coast guard patrol boat reached the vessel "and confirmed the presence of a large number of migrants on the deck," the statement said. "But they refused any assistance and said they wanted to continue to Italy."

The coast guard boat accompanied the migrant vessel, which, the statement said, capsized and sank early Wednesday, prompting a massive rescue operation by all the ships in the area.

Alarm Phone, a network of activists that provides a hotline for migrants in trouble, meanwhile, said it was contacted by people on a boat in distress on Tuesday afternoon. That boat was in the same general area as the one that sank, but it was not clear if it was the same vessel.

The organization notified Greek authorities and Frontex. In one communication with Alarm Phone, migrants reported the vessel was overcrowded and that the captain had abandoned the ship on a small boat, according to the group. They asked for food and water, which was provided by a merchant ship.

When they have larger boats, Mediterranean smugglers are increasingly trying to stay in international waters as they pass by Greece to try to avoid its coast guard patrols.

On Sunday, 90 migrants on a U.S.-flagged yacht were rescued in the area after they made a distress call.

Six Greek coast guard vessels, a navy frigate, a military transport plane, an air force helicopter, several private vessels and a drone from Frontex are currently taking part in the search for the boat that sank Wednesday.

Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou headed for the area where rescued migrants are being tended to and planned campaign events by political parties ahead of June 25 national elections were called off.

Separately Wednesday, a yacht with 81 migrants on board was towed to a port on the south coast of Greece's island of Crete after authorities received a distress call.

According to IOM, there have been about 27,000 missing migrants reported in the  Mediterranean region  since 2014. The group says the Central Mediterranean is the "deadliest known migration route in the world." 

The worst migrant tragedy in Greece was in June 2016 when at least 320 people were listed as dead or missing, according to AFP records going back to 1993.

Along with Italy and Spain, Greece has been one of the main landing points for tens of thousands of people seeking to reach Europe from Africa and the Middle East.

Greece is also facing an increase of crossing attempts from Turkey on southern routes near the Cyclades islands and toward the Peloponnese peninsula, hoping to avoid patrols in the northern Aegean Sea.

Rescue operations are common, but last month the Greek government came under international pressure over video footage reportedly showing the forceful expulsion of migrants who were set adrift at sea.

Greece and other EU member states on the southern and southeastern rim of the bloc say they are being unfairly tasked with managing the arrivals of undocumented migrants.

AFP contributed to this report.   

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At least 79 dead after overcrowded migrant vessel sinks off Greece; hundreds may be missing

This undated handout image provided by Greece’s coast guard on Wednesday, June14, 2023, shows scores of people covering practically every free stretch of deck on a battered fishing boat that later capsized and sank off southern Greece. A fishing boat carrying migrants trying to reach Europe capsized and sank off Greece on Wednesday, authorities said, leaving at least 79 dead and many more missing in one of the worst disasters of its kind this year.(Hellenic Coast Guard via AP)

Survivors of a shipwreck sleep at a warehouse at the port in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of Athens, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. A fishing boat carrying migrants capsized and sank off the coast of Greece on Wednesday, authorities said, leaving at least 78 people dead and many dozens feared missing in one of the worst disasters of its kind this year. (AP Photos/Thanassis Stavrakis)

This undated handout image provided by Greece’s coast guard on Wednesday, June14, 2023, shows scores of people on a battered fishing boat that later capsized and sank off southern Greece. A fishing boat carrying migrants trying to reach Europe capsized and sank off Greece on Wednesday, authorities said, leaving at least 79 dead and many more missing in one of the worst disasters of its kind this year.(Hellenic Coast Guard via AP)

A survivor of a shipwreck walks outside a warehouse at the port in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of Athens, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. A fishing boat carrying migrants trying to reach Europe capsized and sank off Greece on Wednesday, authorities said, leaving at least 79 dead and many more missing in one of the worst disasters of its kind this year. (AP Photos/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Survivors of a shipwreck rest in a warehouse at the port in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of Athens, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. A fishing boat carrying migrants trying to reach Europe capsized and sank off Greece on Wednesday, authorities said, leaving at least 79 dead and many more missing in one of the worst disasters of its kind this year. (AP Photos/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Paramedics transfer an injured survivor of a shipwreck to an ambulance at the port in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of Athens, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. A fishing boat carrying migrants trying to reach Europe capsized and sank off Greece on Wednesday, authorities said, leaving at least 79 dead and many more missing in one of the worst disasters of its kind this year. (AP Photos/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A survivors receives first aid after a rescue operation at the port in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150miles) southwest of Athens on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Authorities say at least 70 people have died and dozens are feared missing off the coast of southern Greece after a fishing boat carrying migrants capsized and sank. (www.argolikeseidhseis.gr via AP)

Paramedics carry an injured survivor of a shipwreck to an ambulance at the port in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of Athens, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. A fishing boat carrying migrants trying to reach Europe capsized and sank off Greece on Wednesday, authorities said, leaving at least 79 dead and many more missing in one of the worst disasters of its kind this year. (AP Photos/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Survivors arrive by yacht after a rescue operation at the port in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150miles) southwest of Athens on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Authorities say at least 30 people have died after a fishing boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized and sank off the southern coast of Greece. A large search and rescue operation is underway. Authorities said 104 people have been rescued so far following the incident early Wednesday some 75 kilometers (46 miles) southwest of Greece’s southern Peloponnese region.(www.argolikeseidhseis.gr via AP)

Survivors of a shipwreck sit at a warehouse at the port in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150miles) southwest of Athens on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Authorities say at least 30 people have died after a fishing boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized and sank off the southern coast of Greece. A large search and rescue operation is underway. (www.argolikeseidhseis.gr via AP)

Survivors receive first aid after a rescue operation at the port in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150miles) southwest of Athens on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Authorities say at least 30 people have died after a fishing boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized and sank off the southern coast of Greece. A large search and rescue operation is underway. Authorities said 104 people have been rescued so far following the incident early Wednesday some 75 kilometers (46 miles) southwest of Greece’s southern Peloponnese region.(www.argolikeseidhseis.gr via AP)

Survivors receive first aid after a rescue operation at the port in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150miles) southwest of Athens on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Authorities say at least 3o people have died after a fishing boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized and sank off the southern coast of Greece. A large search and rescue operation is underway. Authorities said 104 people have been rescued so far following the incident early Wednesday some 75 kilometers (46 miles) southwest of Greece’s southern Peloponnese region.(www.argolikeseidhseis.gr via AP)

Survivors arrive by yacht after a rescue operation at the port in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150miles) southwest of Athens on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Authorities say at least 30 people have died after a fishing boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized and sank off the southern coast of Greece. A large search and rescue operation is underway. (www.argolikeseidhseis.gr via AP)

Survivors of a shipwreck rest at a warehouse at the port in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of Athens, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Authorities say at least 30 people have died after a fishing boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized and sank off the southern coast of Greece. A large search and rescue operation is underway. (www.argolikeseidhseis.gr via AP)

Paramedics carry an injured survivor of a shipwreck to an ambulance at the port in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150miles) southwest of Athens on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Authorities say at least 78 people have died and dozens are feared missing off the coast of southern Greece after a fishing boat carrying migrants capsized and sank.(AP Photos/Thanassis Stavrakis)

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KALAMATA, Greece (AP) — A fishing boat crammed to the gunwales with migrants trying to reach Europe capsized and sank Wednesday off the coast of Greece, authorities said, leaving at least 79 dead and many more missing in one of the worst disasters of its kind this year.

Coast guard, navy and merchant vessels and aircraft fanned out for a vast search-and-rescue operation set to continue overnight. It was unclear how many passengers were missing, but some initial reports suggested hundreds of people may have been aboard when the boat went down far from shore.

An aerial photograph of the battered blue vessel released by the Greek coast guard showed scores of people covering practically every inch of deck.

Greece’s caretaker prime minister, Ioannis Sarmas, declared three days of national mourning, “with our thoughts on all the victims of the ruthless smugglers who exploit human unhappiness.

Coast guard spokesman Nikos Alexiou told state ERT TV that it was impossible to accurately estimate the number of passengers. He said it appeared that the 25- to 30-meter (80- to 100-foot) vessel capsized after people abruptly moved to one side.

“The outer deck was full of people, and we presume that the interior (of the vessel) would also have been full,” he said. “It looks as if there was a shift among the people who were crammed on board, and it capsized.”

A coast guard statement said efforts by its own ships and merchant vessels to assist the boat were repeatedly rebuffed, with people on board insisting they wanted to continue to Italy. Coast guard officials said the trawler’s engines broke down around 1:40 a.m. Wednesday, and just under an hour later, the ship started to list abruptly from side to side before capsizing.

The ship sank 10 to 15 minutes later, the statement said.

Ioannis Zafiropoulos, deputy mayor of the southern port city of Kalamata, where survivors were taken, said that his information indicated there were “more than 500 people” on board.

Authorities said 104 people were rescued after the sinking in international waters about 75 kilometers (45 miles) southwest of Greece’s southern Peloponnese peninsula. The spot is close to the deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea, and depths of up to 17,000 feet (5,200 meters) could hamper any effort to locate a sunken vessel.

Twenty-five survivors ranging in age from 16 to 49 were hospitalized with hypothermia or fever.

At the port of Kalamata, around 70 exhausted survivors bedded down in sleeping bags and blankets provided by rescuers in a large warehouse, while paramedics set up tents outside for anyone who needed first aid.

Katerina Tsata, head of a Red Cross volunteer group in Kalamata, said the migrants were also given psychological support.

“They suffered a very heavy blow, both physical and mental,” she said.

Rescue volunteer Constantinos Vlachonikolos said nearly all the survivors were men.

“They were very worn out. How could they not be?” he said. Rescuers said many of the people pulled from the water couldn’t swim and were clutching debris. The coast guard said none had life jackets.

The Greek coast guard said 79 bodies have been recovered so far. Survivors included 30 people from Egypt, 10 from Pakistan, 35 from Syria and two Palestinians, the agency said.

The Italy-bound boat was believed to have left the Tobruk area in eastern Libya — a country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

Human traffickers have benefited from the instability, and made Libya one of the main departure points for people attempting to reach Europe on smuggler’s boats.

The route from North Africa to Italy through the central Mediterranean is the deadliest in the world, according to the U.N. migration agency , known as IOM, which has recorded more than 21,000 deaths and disappearances there since 2014.

Smugglers use unseaworthy boats and cram as many migrants as possible inside — sometimes inside locked holds — for journeys that can take days. They head for Italy, which is directly across the Mediterranean from Libya and Tunisia, and much closer than Greece to the Western European countries that most migrants hope to eventually reach.

In February, at least 94 people died when a wooden boat from Turkey sank off Cutro, in southern Italy, in the worst Mediterranean sinking so far this year.

The Italian coast guard first alerted Greek authorities and the European Union border protection agency, Frontex, about an approaching vessel on Tuesday.

The IOM said initial reports suggested up to 400 people were on board. A network of activists said it received a distress call from a boat in the same area whose passengers said it carried 750 people. But it wasn’t clear if that was the vessel that sank.

After that first alert, Frontex aircraft and two merchant ships spotted the boat heading north at high speed, according to the Greek coast guard, and more aircraft and ships were sent to the area.

But repeated calls to the vessel offering help were declined, the coast guard said in a statement.

“In the afternoon, a merchant vessel approached the ship and provided it with food and supplies, while the (passengers) refused any further assistance,” the coast guard said. A second merchant ship later offered more supplies and assistance, which were turned down, the agency added.

In the evening, a coast guard patrol boat reached the vessel “and confirmed the presence of a large number of migrants on the deck,” the statement said. “But they refused any assistance and said they wanted to continue to Italy.”

The coast guard boat accompanied the migrant vessel and later headed a major rescue operation by all the ships in the area.

Alarm Phone, a network of activists that provides a hotline for migrants in trouble, said it was contacted by people on a boat in distress on Tuesday afternoon. That boat was in the same general area as the one that sank, but it was not clear if it was the same vessel.

The organization notified Greek authorities and Frontex. In one communication with Alarm Phone, migrants reported the vessel was overcrowded and that the captain had abandoned the ship on a small boat, according to the group. They asked for food and water, which were provided by a merchant ship.

“We fear that hundreds of people have drowned,” Alarm Phone said in a statement.

The Mediterranean’s deadliest shipwreck in living memory occurred on April 18, 2015, when an overcrowded fishing boat collided off Libya with a freighter trying to come to its rescue. Only 28 people survived. Forensic experts concluded that there were originally 1,100 people on board.

Paphitis reported from Athens, Greece. Associated Press writers Sam Magdy in Cairo and Renata Brito in Barcelona, Spain, contributed to this report.

Follow AP stories on global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

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A Superyacht Gave a Lifeline to 100 Migrants Thrown Into the Sea

A $175 million vessel responded to a distress call and helped rescue survivors in one of the Mediterranean’s worst wrecks in decades, reflecting the new inequality of the seas.

By Jason Horowitz and Matina Stevis-Gridneff

Jason Horowitz reported from Souda, Greece, on the island of Crete, and Matina Stevis-Gridneff from Brussels.

The superyacht Mayan Queen IV was sailing smoothly in clear weather through the dark and calm Mediterranean in the early hours of June 14 when it received a call about a migrant ship in distress four nautical miles away.

About 20 minutes later, shortly before 3 a.m., the towering $175-million yacht, owned by the family of a Mexican silver magnate, arrived at the scene. The distressed boat had already sunk. All the four-person crew could see were the lights of a Greek Coast Guard vessel scanning the water’s inky surface. But they could hear the screams of survivors.

“Horrible,” said the Mayan Queen’s captain, Richard Kirkby, who described the sea as “pitch black” on that nearly moonless night.

In a few hours, the 305-foot Mayan Queen, more accustomed to pleasure boating to Monaco and Italy with billionaires and their friends aboard, was filled with 100 desperate, dehydrated and sea-soaked Pakistani, Syrian, Palestinian and Egyptian men, as it played an unexpected role in one of the deadliest migrant shipwrecks in decades. As many as 650 men, women and children drowned .

The incongruous image of the devastated survivors disembarking the Mayan Queen on a port in Kalamata last week underlined what has become the strange reality of the modern Mediterranean, where the superyachts of the superrich, equipped with swimming pools, Jacuzzis, helipads and other trappings of luxury, share the seas with the most destitute on smuggler-operated boats perilously crossing from northern Africa to Europe.

The world’s waterways have become a reflection of global inequalities in recent days. In the North Atlantic, a billionaire, his son and other businessmen set out to explore the wreck of the Titanic on a luxury tourist submersible that has gone missing, touching off an international search and rescue operation .

Days earlier, the Greek authorities repeatedly decided not to assist a roughly 80- to 100-foot fishing trawler stuffed with as many as 750 people fleeing desperate poverty and the displacement of war in Greece’s search-and-rescue area. Only when the ship sank in front of the Coast Guard did the authorities spur to action, calling on the Mayan Queen, one of the world’s 100 largest yachts.

“As soon as you are notified and in close proximity and you can do so, you are obligated,” to try and rescue, said Aphrodite Papachristodoulou, an expert in the law of the sea and human rights at the Irish Centre for Human Rights. She said it was not unusual to have luxury yachts in the area.

Why the Greek authorities needed to call on a passing yacht to come to the rescue of an overcrowded and rickety ship that they had been monitoring and communicating with in their search-and-rescue area for a full day, she said, was less obvious.

“The practice of nonassistance or delay of assistance and why the Greeks were not proceeding to the rescue is another question mark,” she said.

There was one Greek Coast Guard vessel already on the scene when the Mayan Queen arrived, and its seamen were in a raft saving scores of men from the water. The crew of the Mayan Queen lowered its life raft with three of its own crew, and followed the cries for help, pulling 15 men onboard, the captain said.

A vivid retelling of events provided under sworn testimony by Mr. Kirkby, and obtained by The New York Times, added that none of those saved were wearing life vests. Some clutched floating pieces of wood. For hours afterward, the yacht crew kept eerily quiet and beamed its brightest lights to better hear and see.

Investigators are still seeking to understand what exactly happened as the trawler sank trying to reach Italy — whether smugglers refused assistance and panic on the ship caused it to capsize, as the Coast Guard claims, or whether a failed attempt to tow the ship caused it to sink, as some survivors contend. In either case, it fell to the Mayan Queen to shoulder much of the rescue.

The gleaming yacht, sailing from Italy, transported 100 of the 104 survivors and four Greek coast guard officials — as well as about a dozen bodies — to port.

“I would like to think that we did what anyone would do,” said Mr. Kirkby, who used to pilot the superyacht Le Grand Bleu , of the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. He added on Wednesday that, because of a nondisclosure agreement and the “contentious” circumstances of the ship’s sinking, he could not say much more.

“I wouldn’t like to see the Coast Guard get a bad rap,” he said. “They did all they could.”

Mr. Kirkby spoke briefly in a cafe in the port of Souda, where the yacht was docked near a cruise ship delivering tourists to the Cretan city of Chania, an industrial Russian vessel and a parking lot filled with stationary truck containers. The vessel’s crew carried out chores, and like the captain wore T-shirts featuring a drawing of the yacht on the back and a B, for the family of the ship’s late owner, Alberto Baillères, on the breast pocket.

On Wednesday morning one crewman carried an umbrella up the gangway that the migrants unsteadily walked down last week, some of them met by stretchers and health workers with foil blankets. By the ship’s stern, with the silvered letters of “Mayan Queen” and “George Town” sparkling in the hot sun and under pumping house music, crew members worked where the migrants huddled upon reaching the Kalamata port.

According to Boat International, a yachting news site, the Mayan Queen, which flies a Cayman Islands flag, is in the top 100 for the world’s largest superyachts. It was built by the Hamburg-based shipbuilder Blohm & Voss GmbH in 2008 and designed by Tim Heywood , a favorite of the yachting set.

“Her power comes from two diesel engines. She can accommodate up to 26 guests, with 24 crew members,” the magazine wrote. “She is built with a teak deck, a steel hull, and aluminium superstructure.”

That craftsmanship stood in stark contrast to the condition of the ship that hundreds of migrants, paying thousands of dollars a head, crammed into last week in Libya, in the hopes of reaching Italy.

Witnesses said in sworn testimony obtained by The Times that passengers suffered beatings with belts and deprivation. Smugglers threw food into the water. Pakistani men were kept in the hold and hundreds of them sank with women and children into one of the deepest parts of the Mediterranean. Only the lucky ones reached the Mayan Queen’s decks.

At around 6 a.m. on the morning of the wreck, as the sun came up, Mr. Kirkby received a call to transport all the 100 rescued men from the Coast Guard vessel to the nearest port.

He offered dry clothes and water to the men, some of whom, he said, “were in a bad way.” For hours the survivors, wrapped in gray blankets and mourning their losses, sailed on the superyacht. At 11:20 a.m. the Mayan Queen and its unexpected passengers arrived to port.

“We took them all,” Mr. Kirkby said.

Niki Kitsantonis contributed reporting from Athens.

Jason Horowitz is the Rome bureau chief, covering Italy, the Vatican, Greece and other parts of Southern Europe. He previously covered the 2016 presidential campaign, the Obama administration and Congress, with an emphasis on political profiles and features. More about Jason Horowitz

Matina Stevis-Gridneff is the Brussels bureau chief, leading coverage of the European Union. She joined The Times in 2019. More about Matina Stevis-Gridneff

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Saudi Prince’s $79million superyacht capsizes and partially sinks while docked in Greece

• Britta Zeltmann
• Published : 8:55 ET, Mar 16 2020
• Updated : 15:22 ET, Mar 16 2020

A $79MILLION superyacht owned by a Saudi prince capsized and partially sunk while it was docked in Greece.

The 230ft Nourah of Riyad, owned by Prince Turki bin Mohammed bin Fahd Al Saud, was being lifted out of the water for repairs when it capsized.

The luxury liner was at a repair yard, the Megatechnica shipyard in Perama, Athens, when it was turned at a 45-degree angle, becoming partially submerged in the water.

The exceptionally expensive accident happened at around midday on Sunday as it was undergoing anti-fouling works.

The yacht's crew and workers are said to be safe and nobody was injured when it capsized.

There was no marine pollutiuon as a result of the incident.

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The 1,415 tonne yacht boasts 11 cabins for up to 22 guests and a crew of 18, complete with a master suite and VIP stateroom.

The yacht, which can reach speeds of up to 19.0kn, also has a Jacuzzi on deck and cinema on board.

She also has a tender garage that allows smaller boats and "toys" like jetski's to be carried aboard.

The stunning 70 metre long vessel was built by Yachtley in Turkey and delivered in 2008. She is sailing under the flag of the Cayman Islands.

Her exterior was custom designed by Donald Starkey and she was refitted in 2012.

Nourah of Riyad is equipped with an ultra-modern stabilization system which reduces roll motion effect and results in a smoother cruise.

She is powered by two Caterpillar 3,150hp diesel engines and has 170,000 litre fuel tanks that give her a maximum range of 6,000 nautical miles at 14 knots.

She has been spotted all over the world.

The luxury yacht is said to have damaged a neighboring shipyard as well as equipment on board the tourist boat Lamadin, which was also nearby.

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At least 79 migrants die in Greece shipwreck as 100 rescued by superyacht

Emergency operation complicated by strong winds, at least 79 migrants dead after boat capsizes off greek coast.

At least 79 migrants died early on Wednesday and many dozens were feared missing after a fishing boat carrying scores of people capsized off the Greek coast .

About 100 people were rescued and taken to the town of Kalamata following the incident in international waters in the Ionian Sea, the Greek coastguard said.

Coastguard authorities announced that the boat had previously declined several assistance offers. Both the coastguard and nearby merchant ships began their rescue efforts on Tuesday, according to an official statement.

The ship's captain, it was stated, expressed an intention to proceed to Italy.

Contrary to the coastguard's account, Alarm Phone, an activist network operating a hotline for distressed migrant boats, stated that it had been communicating with people presumed to be passengers on the capsized vessel.

These passengers conveyed an urgent need for aid, in stark contrast to the ship captain's earlier refusal.

Alarm Phone also claimed that the captain had abandoned the ship using a smaller boat prior to the vessel capsizing. The assertions made by the organisation are currently under investigation.

Along with navy vessels, the rescue operation included an army plane and helicopter, a drone from the EU border protection agency Frontex, as well as six other boats that were in the area. Dozens of survivors were able to board a superyacht, the Mayan Queen IV.

The spot is close to one of the deepest areas of the Mediterranean Sea and the rescue was complicated by strong winds, the coastguard said. “We fear the number of dead will rise,” said a shipping ministry official.

Alam Phone, a European rescue support charity, said it believed there were 750 people on board the 20- to 30-metre-long vessel.

Four of the survivors were taken to hospital with symptoms of hypothermia.

Katerina Tsata, head of a Red Cross volunteer group in Kalamata, said: “They suffered a very heavy blow, both physical and mental.”

Coastguard spokesman Nikos Alexiou said it appeared that the ship had capsized after people abruptly moved to one side.

“The outer deck was full of people, and we presume that the interior [of the vessel] would also have been full,” he said. “It looks as if there was a shift among the people who were crammed on board and it capsized.”

Ioannis Zafiropoulos, deputy mayor of Kalamata, said: “It sank very quickly and was gone by the time the rescue helicopter got there. The area where this happened has very deep water.”

State broadcaster ERT said the Italy-bound boat had sailed from the Libyan town of Tobruk, which lies south of the Greek island of Crete. Most of those on board were young men in their 20s.

Their nationalities, as well as where the boat had sailed from, were not immediately confirmed by Greek authorities.

The coastguard said the boat was first spotted in international waters late on Tuesday by an aircraft belonging to EU border agency Frontex and two nearby vessels, about 80km south-west of the town of Pylos in southern Greece.

It said those on board had refused assistance offered by Greek authorities. A few hours later the boat capsized and sank, triggering the search and rescue operation.

Alarm Phone said it had been contacted by people on a boat in distress on Tuesday afternoon. That boat was in the same general area as the one that sank, but it was not clear if it was the same vessel.

The organisation notified Greek authorities and Frontex. In one communication with Alarm Phone, migrants reported the vessel was overcrowded and that the captain had abandoned the ship on a small boat, according to the group. They asked for food and water, which was provided by a merchant ship.

Greece, Italy and Spain are the main destinations for the tens of thousands of people seeking to reach the Europe from Africa and the Middle East.

Smugglers are increasingly taking larger boats into international waters off the Greek mainland to try to avoid coastguard patrols.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted: “Deeply saddened by the news of the shipwreck off the Greek coast and the many reported deaths. Very concerned by the number of missing people.

“We must continue to work together, with member states and third countries, to prevent such tragedies.”

The United Nations has registered more than 20,000 deaths and disappearances in the central Mediterranean since 2014, making it the most dangerous migrant crossing in the world.

The worst migrant tragedy in Greece was in June 2016 when at least 320 people were listed as dead or missing, according to records going back to 1993.

The International Organisation for Migration as of Wednesday had listed 48 migrants missing in the Eastern Mediterranean so far this year, compared to 378 a year earlier.

Separately on Wednesday, Greece's port police said a sailing boat in distress carrying about 80 migrants off Crete was rescued by a coastguard patrol and towed to port.

Greece is facing an increase in crossing attempts from Turkey on southern routes near the Cyclades islands and towards the Peloponnese peninsula, hoping to avoid patrols in the northern Aegean Sea.

Last month, the Greek government came under international pressure over video footage reportedly showing the forceful expulsion of migrants who were set adrift at sea.

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Video captures the moment 160-foot ‘007’ superyacht sinks in greece.

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Sunken but not stirred.

Footage captured the calamitous moment that a massive superyacht named “007” sank — with five passengers inside — in Greece

The maritime disaster occurred Friday night after the 160-foot vessel, which reportedly sails under a British flag but is owned by a Swiss businessman, experienced a GPS malfunction off Kythos Island, SWNS reported. This reportedly prompted the captain to bring it closer to shore than was advisable.

As a result, the James Bond-themed luxury boat hit the rocks, and began taking on water with five passengers inside.

“In trying not to be sunk, he sailed closer to shore, in less than 10 meters depth — and that’s how the ship got to that position,” explained a boat owner who witnessed the catastrophe.

Accompanying footage, uploaded to YouTube, shows the swanky vessel, which sports a helipad, lying half-sunken on its side around 50 feet from the nearby Kolona Beach.

Thankfully, all five passengers were rescued and transported to safety before the “007” sank. “No people were hurt,” described the aforementioned eyewitness. “The coastguard was immediately aware and sent help in the night.”

Rescuers also erected an anti-pollution perimeter in the area, although there was reportedly “no diesel leakage or damage to the scenery,” the bystander said.

Local authorities will launch a probe into the sinking of the “007,” which was delivered in 2006 by the Bodrum-based shipyard Aegean Yacht, but whose owner remains unknown.

Along with a helipad, the superyacht reportedly boasts five cabins, including a master suite, and can reportedly sleep ten people.

This isn’t the first time a luxury vessel has visited Davy Jones’ locker of late. Last month, heart-pounding footage emerged of a 130-foot superyacht capsizing and sinking stern-first into the water off the Italian coast.

In February, a Ukrainian man was arrested for partially sinking his Russian tycoon boss’s $7.7 million luxury super yacht in Spain in protest over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

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James Bond-Themed Superyacht Called '007' Sinks Within Yards of Greek Beach

"In trying not to be sunk, he sailed closer to shore," a boat owner who watched the event unfold said of the captain's actions

Five passengers aboard a superyacht named in honor of British superspy James Bond had to be rescued after it capsized and began sinking yards away from a Greek beach Friday.

The 160-foot superyacht named "007" experienced a GPS malfunction around 50 feet from the beaches of Kolona Bay on the Mediterranean island of Kythnos, SWNS reported.

"They say that the captain had some depth problem and he hit the bottom," a boat owner said about the vessel's captain, per SWNS

"In trying not to be sunk, he sailed closer to shore, in less than 10 meters depth — and that's how the ship got to that position." Thankfully, nobody was hurt in the incident, added SWNS.

"The coastguard was immediately aware and sent help in the night," the local continued, per SWNS.

"Next morning they put an antipollution perimeter," the boat owner continued. "It appears there was no diesel leakage or damage to the scenery."

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According to SuperYacht Times , the "007" was developed by Aegean Yachts in 2006 and can accommodate up to 10 people. It also has a steel hull and aluminum superstructure.

In true James Bond style, however, the identity of the owner has not been revealed.

The sinking of the 007 follows the demise of a 131-foot superyacht named My Saga, which capsized nine miles off the coast of Catanzaro, Italy in August.

Shocking footage released by the Italian coast guard showed the vessel sinking stern-first near the Catanzaro Marina.

According to the BBC , "the Italian coast guard rescued all nine people on board – four passengers and five crew. The outlet reported the ship was heading from Gallipoli to Milazzo.

An investigation of the incident is ongoing and it is still unclear what caused the yacht to sink.

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You could say that 2022 has not been a good year for superyachts in general, and you wouldn’t be completely off the mark. In between seizures and legal complications, and what seems like an increased number of totaling incidents, superyacht-watching has definitely gotten more… dramatic this past year.

We can now add another incident to that ever-growing list: 007, a superyacht delivered by Aegean Yachts in 2006, has sunk after running aground off the coast of Greece. It happened on Friday night (September 2), with reports in the local  media  saying that the captain hit rocks under the surface of the water.

The ship is now almost completely submerged in Kolona Bay in Kythnos, in the Cyclades island chain in Greece, only some 15 meters (49.2 feet) from the beach. The Greek Coast Guard has confirmed the incident but, for the time being, it can’t speak on the circumstances surrounding it – and for very good reason, since an investigation into the cause is still underway.

The good news is that the five people onboard the vessel were rescued by the Coast Guard and transported to safety. The other piece of good news is that Coast Guard personnel was able to contain the superyacht with a floating sea wall, and there have been no reports of pollution as of the time of press. Given the location of the wreck, it is very likely that a recovery operation will be attempted.

The captain called in for help after running aground, as the ship started taking on water. Shortly afterwards, 007 listed on the port side, and eventually capsized. Photos and videos have emerged on social media showing the extent of the damage, and you will find some of them included in this article.

007 is a 49-meter (160-foot) superyacht that wasn’t available for charter, but was often described as the perfect family boat. Initially delivered as a 32-meter (105-footer) under the name Royal Enterprise, at the Bodrum shipyard in Turkey, it’s been through several refits, which have contributed to its current explorer-like, more aggressive silhouette. These refits included a lengthening of the hull to 49 meters (160 feet), adding another deck, and a small touch-and-go helipad on top.

With a design by Yavuz Mete, 007 offered accommodation for 10 guests and 5 crew. Powered by twin Caterpillar engines that developed a total of 1,300 hp, it could travel at a top speed of 12 knots (13.8 mph / 22.2 kph). None of that matters now, as it’s come to what could possibly be its end on the rocky shore of Greece.

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Superyacht 007  has sunk off the coast of Greece, according to the local coast guard. Footage has been circulating on social media throughout the weekend of the stricken yacht, which is lying on its side in shallow waters off Kolona Bay in Kythnos.

The 49-metre vessel ran aground on Friday evening and reportedly took on water before capsizing. Reports say 007 is currently semi-submerged and awaiting recovery around 15 metres off the coast. The coast guard says that five passengers were rescued, and there are no reported injuries. Search and rescue teams have installed a boom around the yacht to prevent pollution from spreading around the local environment.  

In a statement, the Hellenic Coast Guard says: “In the evening hours of Friday, the Port Authority of Kythnos was informed by the Unified Center for Coordination of Search and Rescue LS-EL.AKT. that the yacht 007 of the flag of Great Britain has run aground in the sea area of Kolona Bay, Kythnos with five foreign passengers.

The E/P vessel DELTA II T. Saronicou 4760 rushed to the area with a member of the relevant Port Authority on board, where it located the above semi-submerged T/C, at a distance of approximately 15 meters from the western side of the sandy beach of Kolona Bay. The passengers, all in good health, transferred to the auxiliary boat and were then transferred to the port of Merichas in Kythnos.”

Superyacht 007 runs aground in Kynthos, Greece https://t.co/MJuMZCDt79 #greece #greek #greekcitytimes pic.twitter.com/fe9KOWQVfq — Greek City Times (@greekcitytimes) September 3, 2022

There are some conflicting reports about how the yacht ran aground in the first place. An analysis by eSysman suggests that the captain may have chosen to ground the vessel after it hit rocks, to prevent it from sinking under the water. Meanwhile, Greek outlet Cyclades24 suggests that the GPS failed, leading the boat to run aground in the shallows before breaching and taking on water. 

A towing company is now on the scene in Kythnos, and is establishing how to safely remove the superyacht from the scene. 

007 was launched as Amazon A by Turkish shipyard Aegean Yacht , in 2006. The vessel was originally 32m long but has been extended to 49m in a series of modifications, which included an extra deck and helipad. 

In August, superyacht M/Y Saga sank off the coast of northern Italy , after the crew reported the vessel taking on water at the stern.

Dramatic footage of the scene shared by the  coast guard shows the 39.4-metre superyacht tilting heavily to starboard, as the waves crash against the decks. And, in June, a Custom Line Navetta 26 superyacht sank off the coast of Seferihisar, in western Turkey, after taking on water.

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Video: Nourah of Riyad Refloated After Capsizing in Greece

The 70-metre motor yacht Nourah of Riyad has been refloated after capsizing in Greece earlier this month.

A time-lapse video online shows the efforts to stabilise the yacht, which is understood to have capsized on March 8 while being hauled out for maintenance at a Greek yard.

The yacht has now been moved to another dock where the incident will be investigated and repair work will get underway.

Delivered in 2008 by Turkish yard Yachtley, Nourah of Riyad was designed inside and out by Donald Starkey and offers accommodation for 22 people with 18 crew.

Power comes from two 3150.0hp Caterpillar 3516-C diesel engines for a top speed of 19 knots.

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Questions remain after Greece boat disaster

Hundreds of people lost their lives crossing the Mediterranean last week. Why wasn’t more done to save them?

It may be the worst-ever shipwreck for refugees crossing the Mediterranean. Approximately 750 people seeking refuge in Europe were packed onto a boat that left from eastern Libya. The trouble started 120 kilometeres from the Greek shore. Questions have remained over the role of the Greek coastguard in the incident and why those on board were not rescued sooner. In the past, Greek authorities have been accused of pushing back boats at sea. This tragedy has followed a year when more refugees died on Middle East and North African migration routes than at any other time in the past five years. But is the world prepared to do anything about it?

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• John Psaropoulos ( @JTPsaropoulos ), independent journalist based in Athens

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By SuperyachtNews 09 Mar 2020

70m Nourah of Riyad capsizes in Greece

The turkish-built superyacht has capsized at a facility in perama, greece….

According to various reports on social media, 70m Nourah of Riyad , delivered at the Turkish shipyard Yay Gemi Yapim in 2008, has capsized at the Megatechnica shipyard in Perma, Greece. Initial reports indicate that there were no injuries or marine pollution as a result of the incident.

According to the Greek news platform News247 , the incident occurred around 12 o’clock on Sunday and was reportedly caused when the 70m superyacht was being lifted out of the water for anti-fouling works. Nourah of Riyad is said to have listed around 45-degrees and subsequently partially submerged.

The National Herald , an English-speaking Greek news channel, further reports that damage has been caused to the facilities of a neighbouring shipyard and some equipment on board the tourist boat Lamadin , which was also in the vicinity. 

SuperyachtNews contacted Megatechnica via telephone, but a shipyard representative refused to comment.

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