A sailboat carrying 55 people, 9 women, 1 child and 45 men, is in distress 27 km south east of Kythira.
The boat is drifting due to lack of fuel, the driver of the boat abandoned them earlier today, there is nobody that are trained to sail a boat onboard.
The Greek coast guard have been given all necessary information to to initiate a rescue operation, if they will is another matter, the boat has been drifting for four hours.
People onboard begs for help, there is no rescue boats in the Aegean Sea, anyone in distress in Greek waters fully relies on the Hellenic coast guard, unfortunately they are less willing to help, and when they do, people have a tendency to magically disappear to reappear in life rafts in Turkish waters.
We hope that the Greek coast guard do their utmost to rescue these people, helplessly drifting, and take them to a port of safety, in Greece.
All contact with the passengers on the sailboat has been lost.
Update 03.09.2022 11.00 am:
Since yesterday the sailboat carrying approximately 55 people has been drifting 110km, so far no effort have been taken from the Greek Coast Guard to rescue the boat in distress. We regained contact with the sailboat this morning, most likely offline due to bad resection this far out to sea.
During the night a Greek Coast Guard vessel has approached the sailboat four times, two times trying to communicate, but after a while they have moved away without trying to rescue them.
The boat is drifting in heavy winds towards the north west of Crete, if nothing is done, they might drift straight to the holiday resort in Lavris, now only 25 km away.
From videos received we can clearly see that it’s windy, report on 5-6 Beaufort in the area.
People onboard have called the internet emergency number 112 numerous times, but so far nothing has been done by the Greek Coast Guard to try to assist the sailboat in distress.
A vessel from the Greek Coast Guard has been following them from a distance, normally people in distress at sea would be rescued after informing rescue services, in Greek waters, this seems not to be the case, at least not for refugees.
The last report from the boat, “we are still drifting, nobody comes to help us, they are only watching from a distance, we need help”. The boat is currently 20 km from land on Crete, it will reach land in approximately 4 hours.
Update 03.09.2022 14.00 pm:
The boat is still drifting, now only 12 km from land an Crete. Latest news from the boat now is that a vessel with masked and armed men is approaching the group.
No footage available and all contact with the sailboat is again lost. We fear that masked men with guns is not a normal rescue operation, rather a pushback in the making.