26/12: Boat carrying 8 people from Lebanon to Cyprus sank, 1 survivor and 7 missing, presumed dead

27.12.2018 / 09:59 / Lebanon/Cyprus

26/12: Boat carrying 8 people from Lebanon to Cyprus sank, 1 survivor and 7 missing, presumed dead

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 26th of December 2018
Case name: 2018_12_26-AEG474 / 2018_12_26-LEB/CYP002
Situation: Boat carrying 8 people from Lebanon to Cyprus sank, 1 survivor and 7 missing, presumed dead
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Aegean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Wednesday the 26th of December 2018 at 1:30am CET the Alarm phone shift team were alerted to a boat carrying 8 people of Syrian nationality which had left from Lebanon on the 25th of December at 2am and was headed towards Cyprus. We were unable to make contact with the boat, and gave all the information we had about the case to the Cypriot Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC). They had no news for us, but informed us that the Cypriot police authority was searching for the travellers. Over the course of the day we spoke with many different coastguard offices (also in Lebanon and Turkey), but received no news of rescue. At 7:32am the next day (the 27th) the Lebanese Navy contacted us and said that their ship was searching but had found no one so far. At 11:58pm we received an update from our contact person that a man in a serious condition had been rescued by a trans-container ship with a US flag 15 miles north-east of Cape Greco. At 12:20pm the next day (the 28th) our contact person told us that they had been informed by the coast guard in Cyprus that 8 people had arrived, but the contact person had also received conflicting information that 7 people had died and that one person was in hospital. At 11:14pm we received an email informing us that at 4:45pm on the 27th of December JRCC was contacted by an American cargo ship which had picked up a man who had been floating in the sea. The man was transported to a hospital in Larnaca. The survivor stated that the boat had started from Lebanon carrying 8 people, and that due to bad weather the boat sank. This is later confirmed by our contact people for this case, and (via our contact people) the family of the survivor.

Last update: 11:05 Nov 04, 2021

Credibility:

Border police patrols
While the exact location of patrols is of course constantly changing, this line indicates the approximate boundary routinely patrolled by border guards’ naval assets. In the open sea, it usually correspond to the outer extent of the contiguous zone, the area in which “State may exercise the control necessary to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws” (UNCLOS, art. 33). Data source: interviews with border police officials.
Coastal radars
Approximate radar beam range covered by coastal radars operating in the frame of national marine traffic monitoring systems. The actual beam depends from several different parameters (including the type of object to be detected). Data source: Finmeccanica.
Exclusive Economic Zone
Maritime area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea in which the coastal state exercises sovereign rights for the purposes of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, the seabed and its subsoil and the superjacent waters. Its breadth is 200 nautical miles from the straight baselines from which the territorial sea is measured (UNCLOS, Arts. 55, 56 and 57). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans
Frontex operations
Frontex has, in the past few years, carried out several sea operations at the maritime borders of the EU. The blue shapes indicate the approximate extend of these operations. Data source: Migreurop Altas.
Mobile phone coverage
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network coverage. Data source: Collins Mobile Coverage.
Oil and gas platforms
Oil and gas platforms in the Mediterranean. Data source:
Search and Rescue Zone
An area of defined dimensions within which a given state is has the responsibility to co-ordinate Search and Rescue operations, i.e. the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger. Data source: IMO availability of search and rescue (SAR) services - SAR.8/Circ.3, 17 June 2011.
Territorial Waters
A belt of sea (usually extending up to 12 nautical miles) upon which the sovereignty of a coastal State extends (UNCLOS, Art. 2). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans