Italians Rescue More Than 900 Migrants Abandoned at Sea
Italians Rescue More Than 900 Migrants Abandoned at Sea
Last updated on: December 31, 2014 10:52 AM
In a second high-seas drama this week, six Italian coast guard officers boarded a cargo ship abandoned in the Adriatic Sea with more than 900 migrants on board and managed to steer it to an Italian port early Wednesday.
The Moldovan-flagged cargo ship Blue Sky M arrived at the southern port of Gallipoli with the migrants, most of them believed to be Syrians, a Red Cross spokeswoman told Reuters. The ship was met by Italian Red Cross workers and other emergency personnel.
Medics help migrants in a tent after they arrived onboard the Blue Sky M cargo ship at the Gallipoli harbor, southern Italy, Dec. 31, 2014.
Four migrants were found dead on the cargo ship, the Italian Red Cross told Reuters on Wednesday.
The French news agency AFP reported that the migrants included a pregnant woman who went into labor during the drama. An inquest began into how the abandonment of the ship occurred.
The Italian coast guard took over the ship late Tuesday after discovering the crew had abandoned the vessel and rigged the engine to crash the ship into the Italian coast. The coast guard officers were able to steer the ship to Gallipoli, arriving before dawn Wednesday.
Car ferry disaster
The drama came as Italy and Greece were coping with the aftermath of theNorman Atlantic car ferry disaster that has left at least 13 people dead and dozens more unaccounted for.
Blue Sky M was first spotted earlier Tuesday near the Greek island of Corfu, after someone on board sent out a distress call.
Greek officials boarded the ship, found nothing wrong, and sent it on its way.
The Italian coast guard scrambled two helicopters overnight after realizing the ship was headed for disaster.
Civil war in Syria and anarchy in Libya have swelled the number of people crossing the Mediterranean in rickety boats this year, often bound for Italy and Greece.
The United Nations refugee agency said 160,000 seaborne migrants arrived in Italy by November 2014 and another 40,000 in Greece. Thousands more have died attempting the journey.
Some use dangerous and flimsy boats while others pay human smugglers, who often abandon their cargo at sea.
Some material for this report came from Reuters, AFP and AP.
Watch a related video by VOA's Zlatica Hoke.
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