In an unusually busy weekend for illegal migrant crossings in the Mediterranean Sea, four commercial vessels had to change course to rescue 186 people.
Even though separate, all of the incidents occurred south of the Greek island of Crete. Two container ships, a suezmax tanker and a car carrier were involved in the rescue missions.
The first rescue was on Friday, when the Hellenic Coastguard instructed the 4,504-teu Maersk Brownsville (built 2007) to assist 37 adult men and five minors on a boat in distress.
According to statements they made later to Greek authorities, the migrants had set out at sea two days before from Tobruk, Libya.
Each paid between $1,000 and $3,200 for a seat on the precarious, small craft.
Coastguard officers detained two persons on suspicion of people smuggling.
The Maersk Brownsville disembarked all 42 would-be migrants safely and continued its journey towards the western Mediterranean.
The second incident occurred on Saturday, when the 6,234-ceu Rhea Leader (built 2008) reported rescuing 37 men from a small, wooden boat 55 nautical miles (102 km) south of Crete.
Spotted by Frontex
The NYK Lines ship transferred all migrants to a Hellenic Coast Guard patrol boat. Three of them have been arrested since, with authorities accusing them of having organised the unauthorised cross-Med journey.
An additional 34 individuals in distress were rescued south of Crete on Sunday night by the 751-teu container ship Lider Halil (built 2007) — a feedermax managed by Turkey’s Lider Denizcilik.
A few hours later, again in the same waters, the 158,100-dwt tanker Yannis P (built 2010) was told by the Hellenic Coast Guards to take a batch of 73 migrants on board.
In contrast to the other three incidents, the migrants transferred to the Greek-owned suezmax had not asked to be rescued, but were spotted by a drone operated by Frontex — the European Union’s border protection agency.
The Yannis P disembarked the migrants at Agia Galini on Crete and resumed its journey.
Vessel trackers indicate that the vessel, which is owned by Greece’s Centrofin Management, is on a voyage from the Russian port of Ust-Luga to Sikka, India.
