In October 2014 Sierra Leone-flagged MV Ezadeen departed from Tartus, Syria towards Turkey.
It arrived at Famagusta, in northern Cyprus in November, and departed from there on 19 December 2014, then sailed north once again towards the Turkey coast before zig-zagging in an area of open water between Turkey and Cyprus.
Then it went westwards to the north of Crete, then changed direction and headed northwards along the coast of Greece before ending up drifting across towards Italy.
[2][3] “It’s an extraordinary way to treat people,” said Leonard Doyle, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration.
“The abandonment of ships in the high seas is a very dangerous thing to do at the best of times and takes the smuggling game to a whole new level that we’ve never seen before.”[1]