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| Italy Races to Rescue Migrants Aboard Vessel in Rough Waters | Italy Races to Rescue Migrants Aboard Vessel in Rough Waters |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| For the second time in days, the Italian authorities on Friday were reported to be scrambling to rescue hundreds of migrants aboard an aging vessel heading in rough seas toward the Italian mainland, reportedly without a crew. | For the second time in days, the Italian authorities on Friday were reported to be scrambling to rescue hundreds of migrants aboard an aging vessel heading in rough seas toward the Italian mainland, reportedly without a crew. |
| One of the people on board the vessel, the Ezadeen, had sent a message saying, “We’re without crew, we’re heading toward the Italian coast, and we have no one to steer,” The Associated Press quoted an Italian Coast Guard official as saying on Friday. | |
| The Italian authorities were said to have sent a helicopter toward the ship, sailing under the flag of Sierra Leone, to allow coast guard officials and doctors to be lowered onto the vessel. “Because of the difficult weather conditions, the ship can only be boarded from the air,” the Italian Air Force said in a statement. | The Italian authorities were said to have sent a helicopter toward the ship, sailing under the flag of Sierra Leone, to allow coast guard officials and doctors to be lowered onto the vessel. “Because of the difficult weather conditions, the ship can only be boarded from the air,” the Italian Air Force said in a statement. |
| In a posting on Twitter, the Italian Coast Guard said the vessel was carrying 450 migrants and was heading “without a crew toward the coast of Puglia.” | |
| News reports said the ship had first been spotted by a Coast Guard plane and another foreign vessel in the area, an Icelandic patrol boat, part of a deployment by the European border agency Frontex. | |
| But the seas were too rough to transfer migrants from the vessel, about 40 miles off Capo di Leuca on Italy’s southeastern tip. | But the seas were too rough to transfer migrants from the vessel, about 40 miles off Capo di Leuca on Italy’s southeastern tip. |
| The 50-year-old, 240-foot-long vessel had apparently veered off its original stated course to southern France from the island of Cyprus, according to Agence France-Presse. | The 50-year-old, 240-foot-long vessel had apparently veered off its original stated course to southern France from the island of Cyprus, according to Agence France-Presse. |
| With record numbers of migrants heading toward Italy, often from North Africa, the rescue unfolded just days after the Italian authorities boarded a freighter, the Moldovan-registered Blue Sky M, carrying more than 700 people. That vessel seemed to have been abandoned by its crew. | With record numbers of migrants heading toward Italy, often from North Africa, the rescue unfolded just days after the Italian authorities boarded a freighter, the Moldovan-registered Blue Sky M, carrying more than 700 people. That vessel seemed to have been abandoned by its crew. |
| Italian officers were lowered onto the Blue Sky M to bring it under control and to prevent it from crashing into the rocky coastline. | Italian officers were lowered onto the Blue Sky M to bring it under control and to prevent it from crashing into the rocky coastline. |