Cyprus, Greece and Israel are working together in the search for an Israeli yacht with which authorities lost contact amid severe weather, the Israeli foreign ministry said on Wednesday afternoon. No further details were released, but concern is mounting over the fate of the four people on board.
The private Israeli yacht vanished during storm Byron, and despite ongoing efforts, it has not yet been located. The vessel departed on Tuesday from Ashdod bound for Cyprus, and an investigation has already been ordered into how it was permitted to sail despite warnings of the approaching storm. Notably, the yacht did not transmit a distress signal.
Three of the four missing individuals are Arab Israelis from the town of Sibli Umm al-Ghanem in southern Galilee, while the fourth, the captain, is from Haifa. The president of the Sibli Umm al-Ghanem local council, Hatem Sibli, voiced deep concern for all four passengers. “I am in contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is assisting us. I am in contact with the Northern Police Directorate, which forwarded the details to Interpol,” he told the Israeli news site Walla, adding that the navy and military “did not respond”.
The three countries continue to coordinate their search operations as efforts intensify to locate the missing Israeli yacht and its passengers.
Also read: Missing Israeli vessel off Paphos
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