Category: Maritime

Efforts to tow a burning oil tanker, the Sounion, in the Red Sea have been abandoned. That leaves the ship stranded and at risk of a possible spill of its one million barrels of oil, according to reports.

On Tuesday, September 3, the EU’s Operation Aspides announced that the salvage operation had ended and stated that conditions were “not safe to proceed.”

NASA satellites confirmed that a fire was continuing to burn aboard the vessel which is registered in Greece.

The Sounion was attacked on August 21 by Iran-backed Houthis. They targeted it with projectiles and firearms. Houthi rebels released a video showing their fighters planting explosives on the oil tanker in the Red Sea. The video shows Houthis chanting “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam,” as bombs were detonated aboard the tanker.

The Sounion was eventually abandoned by the crew. They were rescued by a French destroyer.

On Wednesday September 4, 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations (AMO) intercepted a vessel attempting to smuggle 3,687 pounds (1,672.2 kilograms) of cocaine into the southern coast of the island of Vieques, an island off the coast of Puerto Rico. The estimated value of the seized narcotics is $33 million.

“Through the dedication and precision of our CBP Air and Marine Operations agents, over 3,000 pounds of cocaine were intercepted, effectively stopping these harmful drugs from reaching our communities,” stated Christopher Hunter, director of Air and Marine Operations in the Caribbean. “This operation highlights our relentless commitment to border security and the protection of our citizens from the dangers of illicit narcotics.”

In the early morning hours, a crew of AMO Marine Interdiction agents detected a vessel lights out near the southern coast of Vieques. The agents energized the blue lights and siren to which the vessel was intentionally beached on the shoreline by its occupants. The individuals immediately absconded to a nearby brushy area.

The Marine Interdiction agents were able to recover the boat from the shallow waters and tow to the Fajardo Marine Unit.

Inside the vessel 60 bales of cocaine were found. The Federal Bureau of Investigations took custody the contraband and the vessel for investigation.

French authorities said 12 people died when their small boat capsized in the English Channel September 3, 2024. The people were migrants trying to reach Britain from northern France. Their boat was torn apart by the conditions in the channel.

Most victims were women, one of whom was pregnant. The 12 also included six minors. Reports say they did not have life preservers available. Gerald Darmanin, French interior minister, said most of the approximately 65 passengers were thought to be from Eritrea.

Rescue boats and helicopters were used in the rescue operation, with people taken to Boulogne-sur-Mer, France for medical care.

The bodies of British tech businessman Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah have been recovered, alongside Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo, and Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working as a chef on the yacht, Bayesian.

An investigation has been opened into the deaths of those seven people in the sinking. The chief prosecutor, Ambrogio Cartosio, said his office has opened an initial investigation into manslaughter and negligent shipwreck.

He told reporters at a press conference that they would try to determine whether the captain, crew, individuals in charge of supervision, the ship-builder or others could bear responsibility.

“We will establish each element’s responsibility, that will be done by the inquiry, so we can’t do that prematurely,” Cartosio said. “For me, it is probable that offences were committed, that it could be a case of manslaughter, but we can only establish that if you give us the time to investigate. Media timing is completely different from that of a prosecutor. We need a minimum amount of time to come to a proper scientific conclusion.”

Maritime director of western Sicily, Rear Admiral Raffaele Macauda, said the weather at the time of the incident was abnormal but that “there was nothing to suggest such an extreme situation would arise.” The weather event had been initially described as a waterspout but later more accurately labeled a downburst.

Girolamo Bentivoglio, chief of the Palermo fire service, said that specialized divers attempting to retrieve the bodies had to deal with “very little visibility due to the weather conditions” and were part of a 70-person search-and-rescue operation.

“The yacht obviously pinned to the right and obviously the [people] tried to go on the other side and then took refuge in their cabins,” Bentivoglio said. “We found four or five bodies in the cabin on the left and there was another one in the third cabin on the left too, and they were in the higher part of the wreck.”

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Five bodies have been found on the wreck of the Bayesian, the luxury yacht that sank off the coast of Italy Monday. Four were brought to shore by dive teams specializing in the recovery effort. That leaves one person still missing. The search effort to recover that last missing person are due to continue in the morning.

The search operation was complicated by the depth the yacht sank to, as well as debris from the yacht obstructing the divers. The recovered bodies have not been identified by Italian authorities as yet.

The six people confirmed missing are Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah Lynch, Jonathan Bloomer and wife Judy Bloomer, Chris Morvillo and wife Neda Morvillo. The body of the chef aboard the boat, Recaldo Thomas, was found on Monday.

The bodies of two people have been recovered from the the Bayesian yacht that sank on Monday, Aug. 19, after a storm. A person involved in the search and rescue operation reported that two bodies were recovered but their identities have not been released yet.

The Bayesian is a 183-foot vessel, and sank around 5 a.m. local time on Monday while moored a half mile from the the coast of Porticello, according to a statement by the Italian coast guard. After the sinking, 15 people were rescued, the coast guard said. Another body was also found near the vessel and has been reported to be the chef, Ricardo Thomas.

Those still missing include Mike Lynch, a British tech entrepreneur and his daughter Hannah, as well as Chairman of Morgan Stanley International Jonathan Bloomer, his wife, Judy, and New York City-based lawyer Christopher Morvillo and his wife, Neda.

British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah are among the missing after a super yacht they were on sank off the coast of Sicily after a major storm, according to local officials. Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, was among those rescued, local sources said. Salvatore Cocina, the director general of Sicily’s civil protection agency, said Hannah Lynch is 18 years old.

The Bayesian was a 56-meter yacht flying the U.K. flag. It is reported to have sunk near Poritcello around 5 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 19, after a “violent storm,” the Italian Coast Guard said in a statement.

Fifteen people were recovered. Eight of those were taken to area hospitals. Six more people — including two Americans and four British citizens — remain missing, the coast guard said. The coast guard said there were 12 passengers on board as well as a crew of 10. Reports say one person was found dead near the yacht and local news reports said that person was identified as a cook from the boat.

A Texas court ruled that the floating barrier in the Rio Grande river, which borders Mexico and the United States, can stay for now. The barrier is designed to discourage migrants from attempting to cross the river from Mexico into the United States. The ruling was handed down by the 5th U. S. District Court of Appeals which overturned a previous decision by a panel of the court.

In December, a panel of that court sided with a federal district court judge in Texas who said the barrier must be moved. The appeals court said that panel abused its discretion in granting the injunction previously.

Several Russian warships, including a nuclear submarine, left Havana, Cuba’s port on Monday June 17 after spending five days there following military drills in the Atlantic Ocean. The exercise was viewed by many as a show of strength by Moscow as U.S. and other countries support Kyiv in Russia’s war on Ukraine.

The ships included a submarine, a frigate, an oil tanker and a rescue tug. The group departed from the port on the morning of June 17.

The fleet’s next destination was unknown, although U.S. officials said the vessels might stop in Venezuela. The U.S. docked the USS Helena at its Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba in response.

The Russian ships had conducted military drills in the Atlantic Ocean, simulating a missile attack on targets that could be more than 600 kilometers (375 miles) away, reports said.

The Russian ships were welcomed in Havana with a 21-gun salute.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel posted on X that he visited the frigate on Saturday and interacted with the sailors.

Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío said the presence of the American submarine at Guantanamo Base was “unwelcome and uninvited.”