Israeli Navy chief consults Greece over bomb threat to cruise ship at Syros

Update, 3 November, 21:07 Israel time

The commander of the Israeli Navy, Maj. Gen. Eyal Harel, has become involved in handling the threat against the Crown Iris. N12 correspondent Nir Dvori reported that Harel held consultations on the suspected object aboard the Israeli-carrying ship and spoke with his counterparts in the Greek security organisations.

Ynet reported that the navy commander was in direct contact with the Greek side over the bomb warning on the Mano Maritime vessel.

News.co.il said Harel held urgent consultations following the report that bombs had been planted on the ship, and that as part of handling the incident he spoke with senior officials in the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security service, and the Mossad, its foreign intelligence agency. According to the same report, Israel's security establishment is working together with the Greek authorities to examine the threat.

These are the first reports of Israeli official involvement in the incident. None of the three outlets quoted the navy, the Shin Bet, the Mossad or Greek officials directly, and none reported the outcome of the specialist inspection or whether the Crown Iris had been cleared to continue to Haifa.

The story as first reported

A cruise ship operated by the Israeli company Mano Maritime was held at the port of Syros, a Greek island, on Tuesday after an anonymous claim that an explosive device had been fixed to its hull. The Times of Israel, citing Greek authorities, reported that the vessel, the Crown Iris, was preparing to sail for Haifa with 940 passengers and 597 crew members on board when the warning came in. Hebrew-language outlets said many of those aboard were Israelis.

Greek coast guard personnel searched the ship with the help of an explosives detection dog and a private diver, and a special coast guard unit was sent to the port, according to the same report. Initial checks turned up no device. Later in the evening, Ynet reported that all passengers had been taken off the ship.

The ship and its operator

Mano Maritime (in Hebrew, Mano Sapanut) is an Israeli cruise company whose voyages are popular with Israeli holidaymakers. The Crown Iris sails under the flag of Panama, The Times of Israel noted, while being operated by the Israeli firm. Its destination on this voyage was Haifa, the port city on Israel's northern Mediterranean coast.

The ship has drawn attention in Greece before. A photograph published by The Jerusalem Post with its report on the threat shows the Crown Iris at Piraeus, the port of Athens, in June, during a protest against Israeli tourists visiting the country. The Jerusalem Post described the vessel as Haifa-bound and docked at a Greek island when the threat was made.

Syros is one of the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea and serves as a regular port of call for cruise ships moving through the region.

How the evacuation unfolded

The first Hebrew alerts appeared in the late afternoon Israel time. News.co.il said hundreds of Israelis were stuck aboard while local authorities carried out searches, with passengers waiting to find out when the voyage would resume. Ynet's first alert described the vessel as delayed in Greece because of a bomb warning, with scans under way.

Nir Dvori, a correspondent for N12, the news arm of one of Israel's main commercial television channels, reported that the searches followed suspicion of a suspicious object. His colleague Dean Fischer said that 1,400 passengers and crew had been brought off the ship so the checks could proceed, and that they would be moved within minutes to a holding area at the port.

Specialists from the coast guard were scheduled to arrive at 9:30 p.m. (1930 GMT), The Times of Israel said, and the Crown Iris would have to wait for their examination before it could set off again.

Figures that do not match

The reports give different numbers for the people aboard. The Times of Israel cited 940 passengers and 597 crew and headlined its item as more than 1,500 people held up. N12 put the number taken off the ship at 1,400 passengers and crew. News.co.il referred only to hundreds of Israelis. None of the outlets explained the gap, and it is not clear whether everyone aboard was disembarked or only some of those on the vessel.

A wider pattern of threats

Both The Times of Israel and News.co.il placed the incident alongside a run of bomb threats against air travel in Europe. The Times of Israel said at least seven flights on the continent received such threats on the same day, disrupting airports, and that no explosives were found in those cases. News.co.il described the ship incident as joining a recent wave of bomb warnings on European flights. Neither outlet reported any established link between the flight threats and the warning about the Crown Iris.

What the reports do not say

No report identifies who made the threat, how it was delivered or whether it referred to Israelis on board. Mano Maritime has not been quoted in any of the material, and there is no statement from Israel's Foreign Ministry or from Greek officials beyond the account of the searches. The outcome of the specialist inspection, and when or whether the Crown Iris resumed its voyage to Haifa, had not been reported at the time of writing.