BrATCO:
I am grateful for your reply. I have absolutely no doubt that you would have given my friend a lot more help than he actually got. The nearest airfield was probably Lyons but he was getting no worthwhile help from French ATC so he headed for Geneva.
If it makes you feel better, a friend of mine had an engine fire (genuine) in the eastern Mediterranean one night and put out an instant Mayday.
The response from Athenai was "Station transmitting, Stand By, Speedbird 403 carry on with your report".