Italy takes control of drifting, crew-less migrant ship
Print Edition
ITALIAN sailors managed to take control of a crew-less merchant ship as it drifted toward the country’s southern shores in rough seas with 450 migrants on board, in the second such incident in two days.
Six coastguard officers were lowered from a helicopter onto the deck of the Ezadeen as it floated some 40 kilometers off Crotone on Italy’s heel, the navy said.
It marked the second such drama in days for Italy, which is struggling with a record wave of migrants making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean, after the navy on Wednesday stopped another crew-less “ghost” ship with hundreds of migrants on board.
Yesterday’s rescue bid involved the 73-meter-long livestock carrier the Ezadeen, which was meant to be traveling between Famagusta in northern Turkish-controlled Cyprus and the southern French port of Sete, the navy said.
A shipping website, however, said the Sierra Leone-registered vessel had begun its voyage in the Syrian port of Tartus. Thousands of the refugees who have ended up in Italy this year had fled the war-torn country, but most have come via North Africa. Prior to running out of fuel, the almost 50-year-old ship had been moving at a brisk seven knots and had been spotted by a coastguard plane 129 kilometers offshore shortly after nightfall.
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