Monitoring Ionian Sea

There have been two (trackable) different (but linked?) mission in the Ionian Sea in the last few hours.

The first is an Italian Customs ATR P-72B (reg. MM62311) that took off from Catania and carried out a surveillance mission this morning, orbiting a point about 100 km south-east of the Greek island of Zakynthos, in international waters, at around 11am.

While the Italian ATR was returning to Catania, a Hellenic Coast Guard Cessna F406 (reg. AC-22) took off from the base of Tatoi, north of Athens to head, it seems, to the same area. At the moment the Greek aircraft has disappeared from the tracking sites (ADS-B transponder switched off or area with poor coverage).

On 14 June 2023, a fishing boat smuggling migrants sank in international waters in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Pylos, Messenia, Greece. The boat, which left Tobruk, Libya, on 10 June, carried an estimated 400 to 750 migrants. The search and rescue effort by Greek authorities rescued 104 survivors including Egyptians, Syrians, Pakistanis, Afghans, and Palestinians, and recovered 82 bodies, with hundreds more missing and presumed dead.