off Seskli - All 8 German tourists rescued after their chartered sailboat drifts away while they swim off Symi

On the evening of Saturday 2 August 2026, eight German tourists — four men and four women — were swimming from a chartered sailboat in the sea between Symi and the small islet of Seskli, in Greece's Dodecanese. Its anchor had not been properly set, and as conditions picked up, the boat drifted away from the group, leaving all eight in open water with no vessel to return to. A man and a woman managed to swim to shore near the Panormitis monastery and raised the alarm. The Greek Coast Guard launched a large-scale search, joined by a Frontex patrol vessel and an Air Force Super Puma helicopter, working through the night across the strait. Just before midnight, a second woman swam ashore alone and was spotted by a passing fishing boat. Then, just after 1:20am, a Coast Guard vessel found four more swimmers together in the water, bringing the total rescued to seven. The eighth person, a man, remained missing overnight, and the search continued into Monday morning, 3 August, when he too was found alive and in good health, matching the other seven survivors. What began as a routine swim stop from an anchored charter boat turned into an all-night, multi-agency rescue.