Italian authorities have taken control of a ship with 450 migrants, thought to be Syrian, that was abandoned by its crew off Italy’s coast.
The Italian coastguard said it was now being towed to an Italian port after a rescue team managed to board.
The Ezadeen, sailing under the flag of Sierra Leone, lost power in rough seas overnight off the south-east of Italy.
A total of 796 migrants were rescued from another ship found abandoned without any crew earlier in the week.
Italian coast guard Cmdr Filippo Marini told reporters that the vessel was being towed by an Icelandic ship that is part of the EU Frontex border control mission.
Children and pregnant women were among the migrants, most of whom were believed to be Syrian, Mr Marini said.
He added that the 73-metre (240ft) Ezadeen was believed to have set sail from Turkey, although earlier reports suggested it was sailing from Cyprus.
The Ezadeen vessel being towed by the Icelandic coast guard ship Tyr – 2 January 2015
The Ezadeen is being towed to an Italian port by an Icelandic ship that is part of an EU mission in the area
The alarm was raised in a distress call from one of the migrants using the maritime radio on board, who told the Italian coastguard: “We’re without crew, we’re heading toward the Italian coast and we have no-one to steer.”
The Ezadeen was built nearly 50 years ago and is a livestock carrier. It appears to be registered to a Lebanese company and has come under the control of human traffickers.
grey line
Analysis: Jonathan Josephs, BBC News
The Ezadeen is the latest uncrewed ship full of would-be migrants to be left to drift to its fate in the Mediterranean Sea.
People-traffickers appear to be behind the phenomenon and one source with close knowledge of the rescue operations is concerned that it “seems to be something of a new trend”.
What’s changed is that Italy is no longer carrying out Operation Mare Nostrum, a search-and-rescue response to the migrants in trouble around its coastline that costs 9m euro (£7m; £11m) a month.
Since November the EU’s border agency Frontex has been conducting its Operation Triton over a very specific area and with limited resources.
But MEP Claude Moraes says Triton “scares no-one”. The operation has no weight of a sovereign justice system behind it, he adds, so people traffickers are less afraid to operate the smuggling routes.
They charge migrants thousands of dollars for the promise of a better life in Europe and show little concern for their welfare.
Source:BBC
Tags: coastguards board, Italy, Migrant, ship Ezadeen
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.