A coast guard vessel was towing to safety on Friday a ship with some 450 migrants aboard that had been abandoned by its crew and left drifting without power off Italy's southeastern coast.

Overnight, the vessel, sailing under the flag of Sierra Leone, was at a standstill about 100 km off the coast of the city of Crotone in the Ionian Sea, the Italian coast guard has said.

According to a CNN report, Italian authorities responded late on Thursday to a distress call from the cargo ship Ezadeen by sending a helicopter that lowered six coast guard officers onto the deck of the vessel. The rescuers provided food and water to the stranded migrants and were trying to restart the ship’s engines. 

The vessel was being towed by an Icelandic coast guard vessel Tyr that is part of the EU’s Frontex border control mission. 

Children and pregnant women were among the migrants, most of whom were believed to be Syrian, according to the Italian coast guard.

It's the second time this week that Italy's coast guard has rescued such a vessel. On Wednesday, a cargo ship carrying 768 people, most believed to be Syrian, docked safely in the southern port of Gallipoli after Italy's coast guard took control.

Leaving crewless ships full of would-be migrants drifting in the Mediterranean Sea appears to be “something of a new trend” that has emerged since Frontex launched its its coastal search-and-rescue Operation Triton in November that replaced Operation Mare Nostrum conducted by Italy to save migrants in trouble at open sea, the BBC quoted  a source with knowledge of the matter as saying.

Unlike the EUR 9M-a-month naval rescue Operation Mare Nostrum, which was responsible for a wider area, Operation Triton is focused on a narrower geographical area and limited resources, the source commented.

According to Claude Moraes, chair of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, people smugglers are now feeling more at ease to do their trafficking business because Operation Triton doesn't have the weight of a sovereign justice system behind it.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!