360 migrants leave Italy migrant ‘ghost ship’

CORIGLIANO, Italy: Italian authorities disembarked some 360 cold and hungry migrants from a “ghost ship” Saturday abandoned by its crew off the country’s jagged southern coast.
Women and children were among hundreds of migrants left stranded aboard the Ezadeen, which docked in the port of Corigliano Calabro around 11:00 p.m. (2200 GMT) Friday after a delicate operation by the Italian navy to take control of the ageing vessel.
It had been left to drift in stormy seas without fuel or electricity, and in the dark rescuers had first thought that it could be holding up to 450 people.
But after docking the authorities revised the count to 232 men, 54 women and 74 children aboard, most of whom are thought to be Syrians fleeing the war in their homeland.
All were said to be in good health.
Six coast guard officers were lowered from a helicopter onto the deck of the Sierra Leone-flagged vessel on Friday to set up a tow for the 40 km (25 miles) to the Italian coast.
The rescue is the latest in a series of maritime operations Italy has mounted in recent days as it struggles with a record wave of migrants making the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean.
On Wednesday, the navy faced more drama after it stopped another crewless “ghost” ship left drifting in its waters with nearly 800 migrants on board.
The appearance of the two drifting boats full of migrants within a matter of days has raised concerns that smugglers have started abandoning large boats full of people off the coast of Europe as a new tactic to maximize profits from their ruthless trade.
The Ezadeen, which usually carries cattle, had been en route from Famagusta in northern Turkish-controlled Cyprus to the southern French port of Sete, but had first stopped at the Syrian port of Tartus, according to a shipping website.
Before it came to a halt, the nearly 50-year-old Ezadeen had been moving at seven knots, and was spotted by a coast guard plane 80 miles offshore shortly after nightfall.