The 6,151-ton Sol Phryne was purchased in some secrecy by the Palestine Liberation Organization and renamed Al Awda ("the Return").

[3] With this difficulty chartering a ship, on 13 February 1988 the PLO purchased the Sol Phryne in Limassol, Cyprus at auction for $600,000.

On 15 February, three high-ranking military officials of the PLO were assassinated in Limassol by a remote-controlled bomb planted on their car.

[5] 18 hours later, on the night of 15 February, a limpet mine[6] attached to the hull exploded and holed a fuel tank of the Sol Phryne, flooding it and causing the ship to list.

Yassar Arafat alleged that this was done by Israeli frogmen but did not provide any evidence to support his claim,[8] The Sol Phryne was raised and transferred to Bijela, in Yugoslavia.