Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday it is working with Greece and Cyprus to search for an Israeli vessel carrying four people that vanished in the Mediterranean during storm Byron.
Authorities lost contact with the private boat amid severe weather, and it has not been located despite ongoing search efforts, the ministry said, without providing further details.
The vessel departed Ashdod on Tuesday bound for Cyprus and disappeared during the storm. Israeli authorities have launched an investigation into how the departure was permitted despite storm warnings. The boat did not emit a distress signal.
Three of the four missing are Arab Israelis from Shibli Umm al-Ghanem in southern Galilee. The fourth, the captain, is from Haifa.
Hatem Shibli, president of the Shibli Umm al-Ghanem local council, told Israeli news site Walla he fears for all four aboard. “I am in contact with the Foreign Ministry, which is helping us. I am in contact with the Northern Police District, which passed the details to Interpol,” he said, though he claimed the navy and army have not responded.
Concern is mounting in Israel over the fate of those aboard as the search continues.
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