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Mediterranean Sea News

09 Aug 2023

Forty-one Feared Dead in Migrant Shipwreck in Central Mediterranean

Credit: davide bonaldo/AdobeStock

Italian authorities on Wednesday said forty-one migrants are thought to have died in a shipwreck last week in the central Mediterranean, according to accounts by survivors who have been taken to the island of Lampedusa.Local public prosecutor Salvatore Vella confirmed media reports that four people who survived the shipwreck told rescuers they were on a boat carrying 45 people, including three children.Vella's office has opened an investigation into the incident.The 7-meter-long boat set off on Thursday morning from Tunisia's Sfax…

06 Jul 2023

Families of Missing in Greece Migrant Boat Disaster Plead for Recovery of Bodies

 (Photo: Hellenic Coast Guard)

Since Matloob Hussain from Pakistan went missing during a deadly shipwreck off Greece last month, his brother Adil has left the door of his Athens home open in the hope he appears. It will stay open until his body is found.Matloob, 43, is among hundreds of migrants from Pakistan, Syria and Egypt who are presumed dead after their overcrowded fishing trawler, that set sail from Libya for Italy, sank off the coast of Pylos in international waters on June 14.A total of 104 men were rescued and 82 bodies were found.

02 Jun 2023

German Rescue Ship Blocked in Italy Over breach of migration law

A German charity said on Friday its rescue ship was impounded by Italian authorities for breaching tougher migration rules introduced by the country's right-wing government as part of a crackdown on NGO sea-rescue activities.The Mare*Go organization said it disobeyed instructions to take 36 migrants it picked up on Thursday to the Sicilian port of Trapani, taking them instead to Lampedusa island, saving itself hours of navigation."The rescue ship is blocked for 20 days" in Lampedusa, the NGO in a statement, adding it would also "likely face a fine because we broke the new Italian Decree Law" sponsored by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.Noting that Trapani was 32 hours away from the location where the migrants were picked up…

29 May 2023

Cyprus Wants Shipping Corridor to Export Mediterranean Gas to Europe

Illustration only - Credit: aerial-drone
/AdobeStock

Cyprus wants to establish itself as a gateway from east Mediterranean gas resources to Europe via a shipping corridor of LNG carriers, its president said on Monday. Cyprus's new centrist government, which came to power in February, has cooled to the idea championed by its predecessors of an "EastMed" pipeline transferring gas to Europe.Instead, authorities now want to transport, via pipeline, natural gas from fields in the eastern Mediterranean to the island for use in domestic conventional power generation…

26 May 2023

Mediterranean Boat Carrying 500 Migrants has Disappeared, Rescuers Say

Image by Italian NGO Emergency

A boat carrying about 500 migrants, including a newborn baby and pregnant women, has disappeared in the central Mediterranean, two charities said on Friday. Alarm Phone, a group that picks up calls from migrant vessels in distress, said it lost contact with the boat on Wednesday morning. At the time, the boat was adrift, with no working engine, in high seas about 320 km (200 miles) north of the Libyan port of Benghazi and more than 400 km away from Malta or Italy's southern island of Sicily.

11 Apr 2023

Italy's Coast Guard Works to Rescue 1,200 Migrants Drifting at Sea

Credit: Italian Coastguard

The Italian coast guard is carrying out operations to rescue two boats carrying a total of 1,200 people, it said on Monday, after a surge in the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa over the weekend. One of the boats, which is carrying 400 people and is in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Calabria, southern Italy, had previously been sighted in Maltese waters. Earlier on Monday, German NGO Sea-Watch International, which had located the fishing boat with one of its planes…

14 Mar 2023

Survivors of Libya Shipwreck Brought Ashore in Italy

Image Credit: Christian Gohdes / Sea - Watch

Seventeen migrants rescued after the latest deadly shipwreck in the Mediterranean were brought ashore by the Italian authorities on Monday as Italy faced criticism for its response to the crisis.Those rescued were taken to the Sicilian town of Pozzallo, Italian newswire ANSA reported, and said they were all originally from Bangladesh.Thirty people were feared drowned after the boat they were traveling in from Libya capsized in bad weather on Sunday, Italy's coastguard said.The tragedy follows a Feb. 26 shipwreck near the southern region of Calabria, in which at least 79 people died.

13 Mar 2023

Thirty Migrants Missing in Shipwreck off Libya. Charity Blames Italy

© Carlo Toffolo/AdobeStock

Thirty people are missing and 17 were rescued in the central Mediterranean on Sunday after the boat in which they were travelling from Libya capsized in bad weather, Italy's coastguard said.The tragedy comes just weeks after a Feb. 26 shipwreck near the southern region of Calabria, in which at least 79 died. Alarm Phone, a charity that picks up calls from migrant vessels in distress, assumed the 30 people were dead and blamed Italy for not sending its coastguard despite being repeatedly alerted on Saturday that the boat was in trouble."Clearly…

23 Feb 2023

Saipem to Use Biofuels on Drilling and Construction Vessels in Mediterranean Sea

A Saipem drillship ©Saipem

Eni's subsidiary Eni Sustainable Mobility and offshore services company Saipem have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to utilize biofuels on Saipem's drilling and offshore construction vessels, focusing on operations in the Mediterranean Sea.Saipem, based in Italy, has a global fleet of 45 vessels for construction and drilling."The MoU represents an important milestone for Eni and Saipem, confirming the mutual commitment to diversifying energy sources and to reducing the carbon footprint across offshore operations…

09 Dec 2022

Barcelona-Marseille Hydrogen Subsea Pipeline to Cost Around 2B Euros

©alexyz3d/AdobeStock

An underwater pipeline to carry green hydrogen between Barcelona and Marseille will cost around 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion), according to preliminary estimates of the project agreed between Spain, Portugal and France, two sources told Reuters. It comes as an energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine has accelerated European plans to bolster renewable energy as an alternative to Russian gas. Spain and Portugal aim to become clean hydrogen hubs and net energy exporters, causing…

22 Nov 2022

Greece Mounts Rescue Operation for Boat with 500 Migrants

©Greek Coast Guard

Greece launched a major rescue operation off the island of Crete on Tuesday after a boat believed to be carrying as many as 500 migrants issued a distress signal in bad weather, the coast guard said.Near gale force winds in the sea south of the island made the operation difficult, authorities said. Two cargo ships, one navy frigate and one tanker were assisting in the rescue.(Reuters - Reporting by Karolina Tagaris and Lefteris Papadimas / Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

17 Nov 2022

Van Oord's Cable Layer Rescues 49 Refugees in Mediterranean

©Van Oord

The Dutch offshore installation firm Van Oord said Thursday that its Nexus cable layer had this week rescued 49 refugees in the Mediterranean Sea. "The cable-laying vessel was contacted by the Malta Rescue Coordination Center to give support, in the worsening weather conditions of the night of 16-17 November," Van Oord said."It is unknown for how many days the refugees - all men - were on a sea journey. Their origin is also unknown, due to language barriers. All 49 refugees appear to be in good health but weakened, and some were hypothermic.

27 Oct 2022

Israel, Lebanon Finalize Maritime Demarcation Deal without Mutual Recognition

Prime Minister Yair Lapid has signed the agreement on a maritime boundary between Israel and Lebanon, alongside Israel’s negotiating team.

Photo by Amos Ben-Gershom, GPO - Credit: Israel Government

Israeli and Lebanese leaders finalised a U.S-brokered maritime demarcation on Thursday, bringing a measure of accommodation between the enemy states as they eye offshore energy exploration.Leaders from Lebanon, Israel and the United States have all hailed the deal as "historic" but the possibility of a wider diplomatic breakthrough remains slim. As a result, there was no joint signing ceremony: Lebanese President Michel Aoun signed a letter approving the deal at his palace in Baabda in the presence of the U.S.

24 Oct 2022

Israeli Court Gives Green Light to Lebanon Maritime Deal

©Luzitanija/AdobeStock

Israel's Supreme Court on Sunday rejected petitions that would have held up a landmark U.S.-brokered deal setting a maritime border with Lebanon, which Washington predicted could be finalized on Thursday. Four groups, including an Israeli opposition lawmaker, had asked the court to force the government - which is looking to fast-track the deal ahead of a Nov. 1 election - to instead hold a full vote in parliament. The court's decision eliminates one of the last hurdles in Israel that could disrupt the deal.

19 Oct 2022

U.S. Envoy in Lebanon Next Week with Maritime Deal to Sign

©luzitanija/AdobeStock

U.S. energy envoy Amos Hochstein will be in Beirut next week carrying a copy of the maritime agreement with Israel for Lebanese officials to sign, Lebanese negotiator Elias Bou Saab told Reuters on Wednesday. The deal - hailed by all three parties as a historic achievement - marks a diplomatic departure from decades of war and hostility and once in force will open the door to offshore energy exploration. "Hochstein will be in Beirut next week with the agreement that we will sign," Bou Saab said. He did not say when the deal would be signed.

17 Oct 2022

Lebanon Claims Israeli Gunboats Violated Its Territorial Waters

©svarshik/AdobeStock

The Lebanese army said on Sunday that Israeli gunboats violated Lebanese territorial waters several times on Saturday in an area opposite Ras Naqura near the border between the two countries, an accusation Israel denied.The statement said there were four violations where gunboats entered several hundred meters inside Lebanese waters and that authorities were discussing the violations with a United Nations Interim Force.An Israeli military statement said there "was no crossing…

12 Oct 2022

Israel Fast-tracks Lebanese Maritime Deal but Lawmaker Review Looms

Credit: Argus/AdobeStock

Top Israeli ministers on Wednesday endorsed a U.S.-brokered deal to delineate a maritime border with Lebanon, paving the way for a potentially fractious two-week parliamentary review before it goes into force.Prime Minister Yair Lapid's security cabinet said the deal should be "urgently" green-lit, according to a statement following the meeting.If finalized, the agreement - hailed on Tuesday by all three parties involved as a historic achievement - would mark a diplomatic departure from decades of war and hostility as well as opening the door to offshore energy exploration.

11 Oct 2022

Israeli PM: Israel, Lebanon Reach Historic Deal on Maritime Border

 Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid - Credit: Haim Zach / Government Press Office
Photo licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Israel and Lebanon have reached "a historic agreement" on their maritime border, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said on Tuesday. “This is a historic achievement that will strengthen Israel’s security, inject billions into Israel’s economy, and ensure the stability of our northern border,” Lapid said. The deal will be brought before his security cabinet and government on Wednesday for their approval before it is reviewed by parliament, Lapid said in a statement.

06 Oct 2022

Israel, Lebanon Closing in on Maritime Border Deal

Credit:timyee/AdobeStock

Lebanon and Israel are closer than ever to signing a deal demarcating their maritime border, opening the door to new oil and gas exploration, after years of U.S.-brokered negotiations.While limited in scope, the agreement is set to ease security and economic concerns in both countries, whose shared history is rife with hostility. The deal will only resolve a territorial dispute in the eastern tip of the Mediterranean sea and does not touch on their land borders, which are yet to be settled.Here are some details of the U.S.

03 Oct 2022

Israel Upbeat on Draft Lebanese Demarcation Deal, Sees Gas Profit Sharing

Israel gave its preliminary nod on Sunday to a draft U.S.-brokered deal demarcating a maritime border with Lebanon that may lead to profit-sharing in a disputed Mediterranean gas prospect. Hoping to defuse one source of conflict between the hostile countries and prod them toward accommodation, U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein last week submitted a new proposal that would pave the way for offshore energy exploration.After years of stop-start shuttle diplomacy, agreement seems closer than ever.

06 Jun 2022

Lebanon to Invite U.S. Envoy for Maritime Talks After Spat with Israel

Flag of Lebanon - Credit:  Leonid Andronov/AdobeStock

Lebanon said on Monday it would invite a U.S. mediator to Beirut to continue negotiations over a disputed maritime boundary with Israel to prevent any escalation after accusing Israel of encroaching on contested waters.The issue flared up on Sunday when a vessel operated by London-based Energean arrived off the coast to develop a gas field which Israel says is part of its exclusive economic zone but which Lebanon says falls within the contested waters.In Israel's first response to the Lebanese accusation…

09 Aug 2022

Turkey Sends New Oil and Gas Drillship to the Mediterranean

Credit: Presidency of Turkey

Turkey sent its new hydrocarbons drilling ship to the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday but President Tayyip Erdogan said it would operate 55 kilometres (34.18 miles) off Turkey's coast, in an area outside waters also claimed by Cyprus.Speaking at the launch ceremony in the southern province of Mersin, Erdogan said the area of operation was within Turkey's sovereign territory and that there was "no need for permission from anyone" for it to drill there.(Reuters - Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen, Editing by Louise Heavens)

14 Jul 2022

Hezbollah: 'No one' will Extract Gas From Maritime Zones if Lebanon Unable To do So

Energean Power en route to the Karish field - Credit: Energean, via Israel Energy Ministry

The head of powerful armed group Hezbollah warned on Wednesday that "no one" would be allowed to operate in maritime oil and gas fields if Lebanon was barred from its "rights" in extracting from areas off of its own coast."If you don't give us the rights that our state is asking for ... then we could flip the table on everyone," Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address."If you want to get to a formula where this country is barred from taking advantage (of these fields)…