Migrants rescued as crew deserts ship
A SHIP abandoned by its crew to drift with 450 migrants aboard reached Italy’s jagged southern coast this weekend.
Women and children were among the migrants on the Ezadeen, which docked in the port of Corigliano Calabro after a delicate Italian naval operation to take control.
With thousands of dollars to be made from every person desperate to escape war and poverty in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, smugglers keep changing tactics.
The Sierra Leone-flagged Ezadeen is nearly 50 years old. Industry sources say aged freighters can be picked up on Ebay.
This weekend’s rescue was the latest Italy has mounted in recent days as it struggles with a record wave of migrants on dangerous voyages across the Mediterranean.
On Wednesday, the navy stopped another crewless ship left drifting in its waters with nearly 800 migrants on board.
The appearance of the two drifting boats full of migrants within days has raised concern that smugglers have started abandoning large boats full of people as a ruthless new tactic to maximise profits.
Italian media reported that most of the 450 migrants on the 73m Ezadeen were from Syria, where millions have been displaced by years of civil war.
The livestock vessel was sailing from Famagusta in northern Turkish-controlled Cyprus to the southern French port of Sete, but stopped at the Syrian port of Tartus, according to a shipping website.
A coastguard plane spotted it shortly after nightfall.
Captain Filippo Marini of Italy’s navy said a woman refugee used the ship’s radio to tell the coastguard the crew had jumped ship.
“We are alone, there is no one
It is thought that thousands have perished trying to make the crossing
— help us!” the woman cried, he said.
The coastguard sought help from Icelandic patrol boat Tyr, on a mission with the European Union’s border agency Frontex, but rough weather made boarding impossible.
Once the Ezadeen ran out of fuel, five Tyr crew members boarded from a helicopter to care for passengers until Italian officers arrived.
Frontex said the migrants were distressed but overall in good medical condition.
Italy has rescued more than 170 000 people at sea in the past 14 months. It is thought that thousands have perished trying to make the crossing, under the control of traffickers.