At the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time
It was 1967, and 14 vessels of different flags – four British, two West German, two Polish, two from Sweden, one French, one Czechoslovakian, one Bulgarian, and one American sailed into a war zone. Israel and Egypt were at each other’s throats. It was the third Arab Israeli war, also known as the Six-Day war.
Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images
In the months leading up to the war, tensions were dangerously high. Israel was threatening to attack after they had been banned from shipping along a waterway called the Straits of Tiran. Egypt placed its forces along the border with Israel, and Israel decided to fight back.
Unfortunately for the passing cargo ships, they found themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time.