Shipwreck off Crete: Moroccan cargo ship rescues 18 migrants
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Yabiladi
The Moroccan container ship CMA CGM SAHARA rescued 18 migrants off Crete on Monday 9 November, before transferring them to a Greek patrol boat. Thirteen bodies were found on board the vessel, and a fourteenth migrant died in hospital, according to Greek coastguard sources cited by Yabiladi.
A container ship flying the Moroccan flag, the CMA CGM SAHARA, rescued 18 migrants off Crete on Monday 9 November, according to the media outlet Yabiladi, which identified the vessel. The rescue followed the sinking of a boat that killed 14 people, about 15 nautical miles south-south-west of Kaloi Limenes, on the south coast of the island, according to the Greek coastguard.
Among the survivors picked up by the cargo ship were 11 men, six women and one minor. They were then transferred to a Greek coastguard patrol boat. Authorities recovered 13 bodies on board the vessel, and a fourteenth migrant, taken unconscious to a health centre, died after being admitted. Three other survivors, including one minor, are in hospital in Rethymno.
The maritime database VesselTracker confirmed the rescue operation by the crew of the CMA CGM SAHARA near Crete. According to AIS data, the vessel had left the Maltese port of Marsaxlokk on 7 November, bound for Limassol, Cyprus. Built in 2002, it is 196 metres long and can carry 2,207 TEU, or twenty-foot containers. It belongs to COMANAV, a Moroccan shipowner that has been part of the French group CMA CGM since 2007.
This operation is part of the rise in crossings from North Africa to Crete, which has become one of the entry points into Europe for migrants taking the Eastern Mediterranean route. The toll of the shipwreck is detailed in our report on the shipwreck off Crete.
