A married couple, three of their children and a skipper were onboard the rented yacht.
By YAAKOV LAPPINMan looks at Israeli Navy boat off Ashdod 370(photo credit: Amir Cohen / Reuters)
The Israel Navy early on Tuesday rescued a civilian yacht that was stranded in international waters, 22 kilometers off the coast of Lebanon.A married couple, three of their children and a skipper were onboard the rented boat.The craft sent out a distress signal after experiencing engine trouble. It had set out from Haifa Port, taking a popular sea route to Larnaca, Cyprus, when water began seeping into the boat.At first, the navy was concerned that the boat would sink, or that it would drift towards the Lebanese coastline, dragging Israeli civilians into an undesirable situation.The navy dispatched its Romah missile ship to rescue the boat. Sailors worked to end the water leakage, which was focused in the control room.Other navy personnel lifted the children and their mother up to their vessel.Civilian yachts also arrived to offer assistance to the stranded family.The missile ship tugged the stranded yacht, with the father and skipper still on board, to Israeli shores safely back to Haifa.
