ITALY-MIGRANTS/SHIP INVESTIGATION Emergency workers board abandoned migrant ship in Italian port

Record ID: 348828

  • Title: ITALY-MIGRANTS/SHIP INVESTIGATION Emergency workers board abandoned migrant ship in Italian port
  • Date: 3rd January 2015
  • Summary: CORIGLIANO CALABRO, ITALY (JANUARY 3, 2015) (REUTERS) EZADEEN MERCHANT SHIP IN PORT EMERGENCY WORKERS DRESSED IN PROTECTION SUITS ON QUAYSIDE EMERGENCY WORKERS WALKING TOWARDS SHIP TOP DECK OF SHIP BLANKETS UNDER SHIP LADDER RUSTY SHIP LADDER AND BLANKETS ON SHIP OPEN SUITCASE STILL CARRYING PERSONAL BELONGINGS RUBBISH AND CARTON ON BOARD SIGN ABOVE DECK READING "EZADEEN"
  • Embargoed: 18th January 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2H1YYEF7YDYHSH0S2SPTV6I0Q
  • Story Text: EDITORS: PLEASE NOTE THIS EDIT REPLACES 6080 WHICH WAS NOT SENT DUE TO TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
    Investigations began on Saturday (January 3), aboard a ship that was brought to an Italian port by coastguards after being abandoned in rough seas in the Mediterranean while carrying hundreds of migrants.
    Emergency teams boarded the Sierra Leone-flagged merchant vessel "Ezadeen" to check the conditions of the ship and to ensure that no one remained on board.
    A total of 360 people arrived on the boat mainly of Syrian origin, including 232 men, 54 women and 74 children, eight of whom were unaccompanied.
    The cargo ship had been drifting powerless after running out of fuel about 40 miles (64.4 km) from Italy's southern coast.
    Italian coastguards managed to board the ship at sea despite adverse weather conditions and brought it safely to the port of Corigliano Calabro in the early hours of Saturday morning.
    It is the second incident on the kind in four days.
    On Wednesday (December 31) about 800 migrants, mostly Syrian refugees, arrived in Italy after they were apparently abandoned by their ship's crew and set on a crash course for the Italian coast.
    The coastguard also boarded that vessel and took over navigation.
    Smugglers recently changed tactics after Italy ended its Mare Nostrum maritime search and rescue mission, which makes a crossing in a small boat more risky, and they are using dilapidated cargo ships with little or no equipment on board, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
    The UNHCR said smugglers set autopilot course in international waters and jump onto a smaller vessel to escape.
    Italy discontinued Mare Nostrum partly due to public concern over the 114 million euro ($137 million) bill the mission racked up in its first year.
    Human rights groups warned that closing the mission would endanger more lives.
    Civil war in Syria and anarchy in Libya swelled the number of people crossing the Mediterranean last year.
    Many of them paid smugglers $1,000-$2,000 USD to travel.
    The UNHCR says 160,000 seaborne migrants arrived in Italy by November 2014 and a further 40,000 in Greece.
    Thousands more have died attempting the journey.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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