The Blue Sky M was a coaster sailing under the flag of Moldova that made headlines after drifting off the Italian coast with several hundred mostly Syrian refugees but no crew at the end of December 2014. The team had mixed with the refugees in order not to be condemned as a smuggler. The ship was towed to Gallipoli on the evening of December 31, 2014 .
The use of the Blue Sky M and the refugee ships Baris , Sandy and Ezadeen , which were introduced under comparable circumstances , led to an extensive debate about new smuggling methods and refugee policy in the Mediterranean.
The coaster of Sietas Type 81 in 1976 as hull number 785 at the Sietas belonging Norderwerft in Hamburg built. The clients of the ship launched on September 10, 1976 were Helmut Baumgarten and Hermann Raap from Grünendeich and Hamburg. After the handover on October 16, 1976, the Kümo was put into operation under the name Seefalke . On February 27, 1985, the freighter was sold to the Claus Speck shipping company in Rendsburg and renamed Jorund . After a transfer to the Grade Universe Shipping Company in Limassol in 1994, a new measurement followed, according to which the ship was given a gross tonnage of 2240 and a deadweight of 2560 tons. In 2000 the ship was passed on without renaming to Praia Navigation in Limassol and in 2009 it was sold to Eastsun Marine in Giurgiuleşti and renamed to Bushra Pride . 2011 was followed by a resale to residents also Giurgiuleşti fairway navigation that the ship on the name Blue Sky M baptized.
As a refugee ship
The Blue Sky M entered the Turkish port of Körfez in October 2014 and was officially on a voyage to Rijeka at the end of December . Reports by the border protection agency Frontex that the ship drifted off the coast of Corfu on December 30, 2014 , turned out to be false. There were refugees on board, but at no point was their life in danger. The Italian rescue workers were called on board based on a bogus SOS message and took control of the ship.
