Homebound Israelis rescued from near disaster aboard aging yacht

The Israeli Navy has launched multiple rescues of citizens stranded at sea on their way home from Cyprus.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

The outbreak of the Israel-Iran war earlier in June saw the Jewish State shutter its airspace, stranding approximately 100,000 of its citizens outside the country’s borders.

With limited flights returning to the country, many Israelis abroad have embraced alternative routes for returning home, including crossing via Israel’s land borders with Egypt and Jordan.

Tens of thousands of Israelis unable to book a rescue flight have sailed from the nearby island of Cyprus to Israel, typically docking at the Port of Haifa.

But these voyages to Israel carry inherent risk, with inexperienced skippers, aging boats, and GPS disruptions putting passengers at risk.

In recent days, the Israeli Navy and other authorities have been forced to carry out multiple maritime rescues of citizens who ran into trouble at sea.

Glen Smirnov, a 34-year-old resident of Holon, told Hebrew-language outlet Ynet about his harrowing experience, when the mast of the yacht transporting him and other Israelis from Cyprus to Haifa suddenly snapped.

Smirnov, who was stuck abroad for more than a week, booked the yacht trip with a group of Israelis who were also unable to secure flights home.

Among the group were a grandmother in her 70s, a six-year-old boy, and three soldiers who had been called up to the reserves.

Most of the voyage went smoothly, Smirnov recounted, but when the yacht was nearing the northern city of Haifa, the mast of the small boat suddenly broke.

He said that the yacht’s skipper tried for an extended period of time to secure the mast using wiring, but it appeared to be irreparably broken.

Smirnov and other passengers on the ship endured the boat’s uncontrollable, choppy movements in the water, saying that most of those onboard were vomiting.

Fortunately, a passing navy shop noted that the yacht was in trouble, and informed maritime police, who carried out a rescue mission.

“Around 10:00, we received a report of a vessel in distress about 10 kilometers west of Haifa, with a broken mast,” Superintendent Ran Vered, a maritime police officer responsible for Israel’s northern territorial waters, told Ynet.

“Without a mast, there’s no sail — essentially the boat’s engine — so once it falls, the vessel is left drifting uncontrollably in open water, which is a very dangerous situation,” he added.

Smirnov praised the maritime police as “amazing,” adding that “they quickly got everyone onto their ships, calmed us down and took us back to shore.”

Vered warned about the dangers of voyages from Cyprus to Israel, noting that many of the passengers on these journeys have little experience sailing for an extended period of time.

Sailing to Israel from Cyprus is a “long and challenging journey, which takes about 24 hours,” Vered told Ynet.

“A yacht is a small, confined space, and by the time people reach Israeli waters, they’re often physically and mentally exhausted — suffering from nausea, vomiting, and emotional distress. There is a clear and immediate risk to human life here, and that’s the guiding value behind our decision to respond [tp vessels in distress] quickly.”