Almost 1,000 Syrian migrants on a cargo ship were saved from crashing into Italy's coast on Wednesday after their suspected smuggler crew abandoned them, the Associated Press reported.
The intense rescue operation began Tuesday morning when the cargo ship Blue Sky M sent a distress signal from a location off the Greek island of Corfu. Initial reports indicated armed gunmen were onboard.
But it was later revealed that suspected human traffickers put the engine on autopilot and abandoned the vessel, leaving hundreds of migrants floating towards a deadly crash into the Italian shore, Italian Coast Guard officials said.
"It was a real race against the clock," Italian Coast Guard spokesman Filippo Marini said according to AFP. "Unlocking the engines was a difficult and delicate operation, but they managed to do it."
Passengers aboard the ship included children and pregnant woman. Most are believed to be Syrian and Kurdish refugees.
In order to reach the ship, rescuers were forced to board via helicopter instead of using Coast Guard boats because a storm was forming over the Adriatic Sea, the AP reported. The engine was successfully unblocked and 970 passengers safely disembarked once it was steered into Gallipoli port, Marini told the AP.
"They are now in all the schools around Gallipoli and they are recording now and trying to find out the names, but we're talking about Syrians," Red Cross spokeswoman Mimma Antonacci told the BBC.
Some migrants required hospital treatment for hypothermia, Red Cross officials said. At least four migrants did not survive, their bodies found on the ship.
Italy has rescued over 100,000 refugees at sea this year. Smugglers are known to abandon their ships in an attempt to avoid being caught, the AP reported. Traffickers sometimes overturn the boats, which are often weak and unsafe.
