Incidents in the Mediterranean.
Documented sailing emergencies in the Mediterranean — 26 records, each with sources, lessons, and links to the SeaWise procedures involved. Search by the water you're about to sail.
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On 12 August 2026, the newly delivered 30-metre Amer F100 motor yacht Angiola II suffered an engine-room fire off Capo Ferro, near Porto Cervo, Sardinia, and sank in about 7 metres of water. All 14 people aboard were taken off safely by nearby boats; no injuries or fuel leak were reported.
On 1 October 2026 a 13 m sailboat with four Italians aboard was left unsteerable by a mechanical failure in winds of Beaufort 8 to 9 outside the port of Corinth, Greece. Hellenic Coast Guard units and two Corinth Canal tugs worked for two hours to reach her and tow her in. All four were well.
On 23 June 2026, two cruising catamarans collided in the Gulf of Cargèse, Corsica. One, a Looping 50 with three aboard, was holed and flooded faster than her pumps could keep up. The SNSM lifeboat crew took the three off and deliberately grounded her on sand to stop her sinking, then patched and refloated her the next day. No one was hurt.
On the night of 13-14 July 2026, a sailboat with ten people and a dog aboard ran aground on the Frioul archipelago off Marseille. The police nautical brigade reached the stranded boat and took everyone off safely, with no injuries. Details of the vessel and the cause of the grounding were not reported.
On 31 August 2026 a Polish-flagged sailboat with two people aboard ran aground near Kouloura islet in the Methoni Strait, off the south-western Peloponnese, and began taking on water. The wind was a light north-easterly. A private boat with a diver and Hellenic Coast Guard officers went to her; both people aboard were unhurt.
In October 2026 a UK-flagged sailboat ran onto a sandy patch off Sidari, on the north coast of Corfu, and began taking on water. The one person aboard left the boat and reached the shore unaided. No one was hurt. The cause and the boat's fate were not reported.
During the hurricane-force storm 'Harry' on the night of 19 January 2026, the 28-metre aluminium sailing yacht Acoa dragged her anchor and grounded on the beach at Son Servera, on Mallorca's east coast. Her skipper, alone aboard, was thrown overboard but reached shore, suffering hypothermia and injuries. The yacht was left stranded in the surf, and an early attempt to refloat her failed.
A French-flagged charter yacht with eight Czech sailors aboard was struck by the high-speed passenger catamaran Krilo Eclipse in Splitska Vrata, the busy channel between Šolta and Brač, on 14 June 2026. The yacht sank in about 50 metres of water and four of the eight were killed; the other four were rescued. The catamaran's first officer, navigating in place of the captain, was arrested as the investigation continues.
On 27 June 2026, a sailboat with two Greek nationals aboard began taking on water and partially sank near the Pergousa islet off Nisyros, Greece. The Hellenic Coast Guard located the boat, recovered both people safely, and brought them to Nisyros harbour. Neither was hurt.
A sailing yacht ran aground at Toulon, on the French Mediterranean coast, with one person aboard. He was unhurt, but the hull was badly damaged. The SNSM, the Maritime Gendarmerie and CROSS Med were mobilized, and a debris barrier was deployed by the naval base's anti-pollution unit as a precaution. No pollution was detected.
On Friday 19 June 2026, a fire broke out aboard a sailing yacht carrying eight Polish nationals as it was docking at the new-port marina on Mykonos. Crews from nearby boats boarded with portable extinguishers and, with the Coast Guard, contained the blaze; all eight aboard disembarked safely ashore. The yacht was then towed to the quay and secured, with only minor damage and no injuries reported.
Off Zea Marina, Piraeus, around 1 June 2026, a charter sailing yacht left harbour at speed and — keeping no proper lookout in daylight — ran down and sank a small fishing boat. The fisherman jumped into the sea at the last moment and was pulled out by a Coast Guard crew inspecting boats nearby. No one was killed, and the port authority opened an investigation into how the yacht's crew failed to see the boats ahead.
On the evening of 30 June 2026 a sailing yacht sank about five miles west of Kefalonia in calm weather. The two Italians aboard abandoned in good time into the yacht's own tender and were picked up by a passing private vessel, escorted ashore by a Hellenic Coast Guard patrol boat. Both were unhurt; the cause is under investigation.
On a Sunday afternoon in early February 2026, a 12-metre sailing yacht caught fire at anchor in Campomoro Bay, off south-west Corsica. By the time the SNSM arrived she was fully ablaze, the fire fed by a gas bottle and about 80 litres of diesel. The crew got off unaided and unhurt; the fire was brought under control after about an hour, but the weakened yacht sank.
A 69-year-old man sailing alone from Gandia, Spain, toward Guardamar del Segura disappeared in mid-January 2026. The official air-sea search ran for five days and was called off. Eleven days after he went missing, a Frontex patrol aircraft spotted his drifting yacht far off the Algerian coast, and he was recovered alive and in good health. The cause of the drift was never established.
Around midday on Saturday 20 June 2026, a sailing yacht caught fire approaching Palma harbour, Mallorca, with four people aboard. Two of the crew jumped into the sea to escape the flames and were pulled out by Real Club Náutico de Palma marina staff, alerted over the port radio channel. One man was seriously hurt — a deep, bleeding leg wound, and semi-conscious — and the Palma fire brigade extinguished the blaze. The cause is unknown.
On 21 October 2025, in fair weather, a German-flagged sailing yacht with three people aboard became uncontrolled and ran aground in the Messinian Gulf near Stoupa, in southern Greece. A coast guard patrol boat and a passing private vessel with a diver assisted, and the yacht was refloated and taken in tow toward Kalamata. No one was injured and no pollution was reported.
Late on a Sunday night in August 2025, a sailing yacht carrying two French nationals was dismasted in 6-7 Beaufort winds between Syros and Mykonos, in the Greek Cyclades, and issued an SOS. The Hellenic Coast Guard responded with a Super Puma helicopter and a ferry. The crew chose to stay aboard and a tug took the yacht in tow; both sailors were landed safely at Naoussa, on Paros, unhurt.
On 10 August 2025, a Greek-flagged sailing yacht carrying 11 people — ten Italians and one Greek — ran aground on a rocky stretch of coast near Kastrosykia, at Preveza on Greece's Ionian coast, in winds of up to 5 Beaufort. The exact cause was unclear. A Hellenic Coast Guard vessel and a diver responded, and all 11 aboard were evacuated safely, with no injuries reported.
On a September 2025 night, the cruising catamaran Tayo, with four French recreational sailors aboard, began taking on water uncontrollably more than 50 nautical miles off Canet-en-Roussillon in the Gulf of Lion. The rescue centre CROSS Med was alerted around 4am and tasked a helicopter, which winched all four crew off the boat and flew them to Perpignan. Everyone was safe, with no reported injuries.
Before dawn on 19 August 2024 the sailing yacht Bayesian was knocked down and foundered in a sudden, violent windstorm half a nautical mile off Porticello, Sicily. Of the 22 people aboard, seven died. The MAIB's interim report found the yacht was vulnerable to high winds and that, once heeled past about 70 degrees, recovery was impossible.
Anchor dragged during a sleeping watch with no alarm set; the boat grounded gently on a sandy beach overnight and was recovered undamaged at high water.
A Moody 54 dragged anchor at 03:00 during a Maltemi wind shift, slipping toward a moored Greek caïque before the anchor alarm woke the skipper.
On the evening of 25 May 2019 the motor yacht Vision attempted a fast, close pass of the anchored motor yacht Minx off Île Sainte-Marguerite, near Cannes. Vision struck Minx's bow, killing a crewman standing on Minx's foredeck. Vision was travelling at more than six times the anchorage's 5-knot limit, and her skipper had used cannabis, impairing his judgement.
Two charter yachts tied alongside dragged a combined anchor in a 40 kt bora gust, drifting 200 m before the inside boat fendered off a rock outcrop.
Charter yacht dragged at 02:00 in a downburst and contacted a moored wooden trader; bow roller damage, caïque holed, both insured.