Smugglers of migrants twice abandon ships, set them on autopilot

ROME – Smugglers who bring migrants to Europe by sea appear to have adopted a new, more dangerous tactic: cramming hundreds of them onto a large cargo ship, setting it on an automated course to crash into the coast, and then abandoning the helm.

It happened twice this week in the span of three days, and both episodes could have ended in tragedy if the vessels had not been intercepted at sea.

In the latest such incident, the cargo ship Ezadeen was stopped with about 450 migrants aboard after smugglers sent it speeding toward the coast in rough seas with no one in command. Italian authorities lowered engineers and electricians onto the wave-tossed ship by helicopter to secure it, and the Icelandic Coast Guard towed it to the Italian port of Corigliano late Friday night.

A large tent was set up at the dock so that the migrants could stop for food and water. Sky TG24 TV said that after their documents are checked, they will be sent to shelters. Their requests for asylum will be evaluated.

Children and pregnant women were among the migrants, most of whom were believed to be from war-ravaged Syria, Italian Coast Guard Cmdr. Filippo Marini said. The Sierra Leone-flagged ship apparently set sail from Turkey, he said.

An Italian Coast Guard patrol plane had spotted the 220-foot Ezadeen on Thursday about 90 miles east of Italy’s Calabria region and contacted it to see if it needed assistance.

“There was no crew, and one migrant, a woman, took the call,” Marini said. “She said: ‘We are alone. Please help us. We are in danger.’ ”

Two days earlier, the Blue Sky M, a Moldovan-flagged cargo ship carrying about 800 migrants, was similarly abandoned by smugglers who locked the ship on automatic pilot and set it on a collision course for a stretch of Italy’s southern coast, authorities said.

Despite strong winds and high waves, Coast Guard officers were lowered onto the ship’s bridge and managed to regain control of the steering about a half-hour before it was due to strike the coast, Marini said.

It was not clear in either case if the smugglers jumped ship. Italian authorities said they were questioning passengers on the Blue Sky to see if any of the smugglers tried to pass themselves off as migrants.