The Italian naval authorities have yet another problem to tackle despite the recent tragedy that left at least 11 people dead in a ferry incident. Italian authorities are trying their utmost to rescue an aging vessel reported to contain migrants.
An officer from the Italian Coast Guard reported that one of the people on board the Ezadeen had managed to send them a distress message saying "We're without crew, we're heading toward the Italian coast, and we have no one to steer."
The vessel, named Ezadeen, was reported to sail using the Sierra Leone flag. According to additional reports the vessel diverted from its original course along the southern part of France from Cyprus. The Ezadeen is a 240 foot long vessel that had been operating for 50 years. The vessel was original built to be a livestock carrier. The vessel is registered under a Lebanese company but was claimed to have been seized by human traffickers The Italian authorities have already sent a helicopter to check the status of those on board the vessel.
Recent reports have confirmed that Italian authorities already have full control of the ship and are already heading to the port of Crotone. More than 1,000 migrants were reported on board of the ship which its crew left earlier in the week. The migrants were yet to be accounted but were believed to be Syrian; most of them are children and pregnant women. Initial reports shows that the ship sail from Turkey, although earlier reports claim that it came from Cyprus.
Italy has been a common destination for illegal migrants especially those coming from the Africa and the Middle East. Recently, the Italian has to deal with the Blue Sky, a ship initially declared as carrying cargo but in fact was carrying illegal migrants. The ship, just like the Ezadeen case, was also abandoned by its crew and left the ship in the middle of the high seas.
