Cargo ship sinks off Cyprus; all 10 crew rescued

On the evening of 30 October 2026, the cargo ship AS Dream sent a distress alert from about 90 nautical miles west of Paphos, Cyprus. Water was entering the hull.

The Cyprus Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Larnaca activated Plan Nearchos and dispatched the patrol ship CNS Ammochostos, the police cutter Pentadaktylos, and a search-and-rescue helicopter. The container ship MSC Hannah III, transiting from Italy to Lebanon, was nearby and was diverted to assist.

MSC Hannah III reached AS Dream first and recovered all 10 crew members. Nine were Indian nationals; one was Cameroonian. The Pentadaktylos brought the survivors to Limassol Port, where paramedics confirmed all were in good health.

The rescue went smoothly. The ship's history was another matter. AS Dream had accumulated 17 Port State Control inspections with deficiencies since 2012. Weeks before the sinking, she was detained in Egypt with 21 deficiencies, among them an inoperative radar and faulty lifesaving equipment. She was also listed in the ILO/IMO database of unresolved seafarer abandonment cases: eight crew had been left without supplies at Ashdod, Israel, in September 2025, and the case remained open as of 28 October.

AS Dream was built in 1980, measured 2,319 deadweight tonnes, and was Tanzania-flagged at the time of the sinking. She had previously sailed under the names Kıvanç, Susanna I, and Susanna. The cause of the flooding has not been established.

Late October brought a string of cargo ship sinkings across the wider region. Contship Jet sank in the Black Sea on 29 October after being struck by drones, with all 18 crew rescued. Cargo ship Khoryv also went down in the Black Sea off Romania on 23 October, also with all crew saved.