A ship abandoned by its crew off Italy with 360 migrants on board has arrived at the Italian port of Corigliano Calabro, the coastguard says.<\/p>\n
Earlier, rescuers boarded the Ezadeen after a passenger raised the alarm as it drifted in the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n
The ship, sailing under the flag of Sierra Leone, lost power in rough seas off the south-east coast of Italy.<\/p>\n
A total of 796 migrants were rescued from another ship found abandoned without any crew earlier in the week.<\/p>\n
Italy’s coastguard tweeted to say the Ezadeen had arrived into port shortly before 23:00 local time (22:00 GMT).<\/p>\n
The coastguard commander in Corigliano Calabro, Francesco Perrotti, told the BBC all the migrants on board were from Syria.<\/p>\n
He said they were being taken by bus to other parts of Italy. He described the migrants’ physical condition as relatively good after their three-day ordeal.<\/p>\n
Earlier coastguard Cmdr Filippo Marini told reporters that the Ezadeen was towed by an Icelandic ship that is part of the EU Frontex border control mission.<\/p>\n
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The Ezadeen is a livestock carrier built nearly 50 years ago<\/div>\n
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Authorities said there were some 450 migrants on board when it arrived in Italy late on Friday<\/div>\n
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A coastguard commander said all were from war-torn Syria<\/div>\n
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Once ashore, migrants were given food and water by the Red Cross<\/div>\n
Mr Marini added that the 73-metre (240ft) Ezadeen was believed to have set sail from Turkey, although earlier reports suggested it was sailing from Cyprus.<\/p>\n
A Frontex spokesperson, Izabella Cooper, said the migrants were victims of smugglers using a different route to the usual one from Libya.<\/p>\n
“What we are currently witnessing is the opening of a new migratory route where the smugglers buy old scrap cargo vessels, departing from Turkey,” she said.<\/p>\n
“This route is longer and the fees charged by the smugglers about three times higher than the fee charged by the smugglers from Libya.”<\/p>\n
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.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The first ship, the Blue Sky M, carrying 796 people, was abandoned and left on autopilot by its crew, believed to be people-traffickers.<\/p>\n
Italian coastguards brought it under control and safely docked it at the Italian port of Gallipoli on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Vincent Cochetel, Europe director for UN refugee agency UNHCR, said the latest development was “part of an ongoing and worrying situation that can no longer be ignored by European governments”.<\/p>\n
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The first ship, the Blue Sky M, was spotted floating adrift near the coast of Corfu on Tuesday<\/div>\n
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Medics were on hand to treat migrants as they disembarked from the Blue Sky M on Wednesday<\/div>\n
Greek officials were first alerted to the Blue Sky when it was near Corfu after a distress call from a man on board asking for food, water and blankets.<\/p>\n
It was reportedly heading for the port of Rijeka in Croatia from Turkey.<\/p>\n
According to tracking website MarineTraffic, the ship abruptly changed direction south of Othonoi on Tuesday morning, heading west towards Italy.<\/p>\n
Italy has had to deal with a massive surge in migrants – many of them from the Middle East and the Horn of Africa – setting off on boats with hopes of reaching Europe.<\/p>\n
A ship abandoned by its crew off Italy with 360 migrants on board has arrived at the Italian port of Corigliano Calabro, the coastguard says. Earlier, rescuers boarded the Ezadeen after a passenger raised the alarm as it drifted in the Mediterranean. The ship, sailing under the flag of Sierra Leone, lost power in rough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":78977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[14],"yoast_head":"\n
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