Mediterranean Sea

A U.S. Marine Corps A-6 Intruder jet with two men aboard was missing on a training mission off the carrier John F. Kennedy, the Navy said Sunday. A Navy spokesman said the aircraft was from Marine Attack Squadron 533 based at Cherry Point, N.C. He said the crew's identities will be withheld until their families are notified. A search and rescue mission began when the aircraft failed to return Saturday afternoon to the carrier, which is operating in the western Mediterranean, the spokesman said.

Rescue workers have recovered the bodies of 25 of 90 people aboard an Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea early this morning amid a fierce storm, the Lebanese transportation minister said. The Addis Ababa-bound Boeing 737-800, carrying eight crew members and 82 passengers including the American-born wife of the French ambassador to Lebanon, crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff from Beirut during harsh weather. No survivors have been found during an ongoing search-and-rescue operation.

Warships massed in the eastern Aegean Sea as Greece and Turkey threatened to do battle over the right to raise the flag on a rocky outcropping that is home to a few goats. But after reaching an accord mediated by the United States, both sides began withdrawing their ships, Greek officials said. The crisis had been fueled by news reports in both countries that make possession of the 10-acre islet a matter of national honor.

Pirates seized a French luxury yacht with 30 crew members off the coast of Somalia, the French government and the ship's owner said. Attackers stormed the 288-foot Le Ponant as it returned without passengers from the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean, toward the Mediterranean Sea, said officials with the French maritime transport company CMA-CGM. A French warship and a Canadian military helicopter were dispatched to track the yacht.

STANDING at the rail during a voyage, I've sometimes wished I could be transported to a passing excursion boat for a moment so that I could revel in the beautiful sight of my ship underway. Star Clippers, operator of three handsome tall ships for cruise passengers, understands this desire. In July, cruising in the Mediterranean with eight family members aboard the Royal Clipper, passengers were invited to clamber down into the ship's two tenders with our cameras.

Judith Morgan's "Rain Can't Dampen Cannes' Spirit" (Nov. 15) implies that the River Paillon is located in Cannes. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea under the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. G. BORDING MATHIEU Laguna Beach

Turkish and Greek rescue teams searched for about 60 illegal migrants who were aboard a boat that sank in the Mediterranean Sea. The vessel, carrying migrants from Jordan, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, left the Turkish resort of Marmaris late Saturday and was heading to the Greek island of Rhodes when it sank, Turkish officials said. Rescuers found one survivor, an Iranian man in his 20s.

Pirates seized a French luxury yacht with 30 crew members off the coast of Somalia, the French government and the ship's owner said. Attackers stormed the 288-foot Le Ponant as it returned without passengers from the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean, toward the Mediterranean Sea, said officials with the French maritime transport company CMA-CGM. A French warship and a Canadian military helicopter were dispatched to track the yacht.

The Soviet Union has been withdrawing naval vessels equipped with nuclear weapons or propulsion from the Mediterranean Sea on the eve of the meeting there between President Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Washington Post reported. The newspaper quoted defense officials as saying the withdrawal is considered one of the strongest signs yet of Gorbachev's intention to press for bilateral constraints on naval armaments during the Dec. 2-3 meeting.

Italian archeologists think they are on the verge of finding the ancient ships downed in the battle of the Aegates Islands between Rome and Carthage in 241 BC. Experts from Sicily and the Institute of Nautical Archaeology in Austin, Texas, used sonar and multi-beam bathymetric technology to scan the seabed around the islands, west of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea.

Cleanup crews struggled to avert a major oil spill at one of the Mediterranean Sea's most picturesque destinations after a sunken cruise ship leaked dozens of tons of oil off the resort island of Santorini at the start of the tourist season. Greek engineers expressed hope they could prevent an environmental disaster as crews worked to siphon fuel from the Sea Diamond, which went down Friday after hitting a submerged reef.

STANDING at the rail during a voyage, I've sometimes wished I could be transported to a passing excursion boat for a moment so that I could revel in the beautiful sight of my ship underway. Star Clippers, operator of three handsome tall ships for cruise passengers, understands this desire. In July, cruising in the Mediterranean with eight family members aboard the Royal Clipper, passengers were invited to clamber down into the ship's two tenders with our cameras.

Italian archeologists think they are on the verge of finding the ancient ships downed in the battle of the Aegates Islands between Rome and Carthage in 241 BC. Experts from Sicily and the Institute of Nautical Archaeology in Austin, Texas, used sonar and multi-beam bathymetric technology to scan the seabed around the islands, west of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea.

Next to the sleek sailboats and fat-cat yachts on the Cote d'Azur, easyCruiseOne looks like a big, orange rubber ducky in search of a tub. Beautiful it is not, but easyCruiseOne has other virtues, starting with its gold-plated French and Italian Riviera itinerary, which I sampled on its second sailing after its launch this month.

Turkish and Greek rescue teams searched for about 60 illegal migrants who were aboard a boat that sank in the Mediterranean Sea. The vessel, carrying migrants from Jordan, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, left the Turkish resort of Marmaris late Saturday and was heading to the Greek island of Rhodes when it sank, Turkish officials said. Rescuers found one survivor, an Iranian man in his 20s.

The Bush administration told Turkish leaders Friday that it had all but given up on their country as a base from which to assault Iraq, ending months of intense lobbying for the deployment of tens of thousands of American troops to a northern front against Saddam Hussein, a senior U.S. official said.

Two American F-14 jet fighters from the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower collided over the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and an aviator was killed, the Navy said. One of the planes crashed into the sea. Its two crew members ejected, but one was killed, the Navy said. The second flier suffered "a serious injury to his leg," according to a statement released in Washington. The two crew members from the second aircraft apparently were unhurt and they returned safely to the deck of the carrier.

Cleanup crews struggled to avert a major oil spill at one of the Mediterranean Sea's most picturesque destinations after a sunken cruise ship leaked dozens of tons of oil off the resort island of Santorini at the start of the tourist season. Greek engineers expressed hope they could prevent an environmental disaster as crews worked to siphon fuel from the Sea Diamond, which went down Friday after hitting a submerged reef.

After several rainy days in Toulouse last fall, I was ready for a sunnier part of France. The hotel desk clerk pointed a you-got-that-right finger at me when I mentioned heading for the Cote Vermeille, or Ruby Coast. Something about the last bit of Mediterranean France before the Spanish border had grabbed me, and there was only one way to get over it. Not much frequented by Americans, the Cote Vermeille (pronounced coat ver-MAY-uh) is the kind of place that induces a satisfied indolence.

The guy in the black beret alternated his pose between scowling disdain and yawning boredom. Slender, tall and middle-aged, he sat at Deia's hangout for local artists, Cafe Sa Fonda, looking like a caricature of the embittered painter who hadn't sold any work in years and was hiding from creditors in the tiny Majorcan village. After he left, a friend of mine who lives part-time in Deia casually mentioned the man's name. "Remember the cover of Santana's 'Abraxis' album?"