Friday, January 2, 2015

Ezadeen: Rescuers tow abandoned migrant ship to Italy

A cargo vessel carrying hundreds of migrants is being towed to Italy after it was abandoned by smugglers and left drifting without a crew in the second such case in just a few days.

Italian Coast Guard Commander Filippo Marini said on Friday that after several hours of struggling in rough seas, rescue teams managed to secure the Ezadeen for towing toward the southern Calabrian region.
An Icelandic ship, part of a European new European patrol force to aid migrants at sea, was doing the tow.
  • Children and pregnant women were among an estimated 450 migrants on board, most of who were believed to be Syrian, said Marini. The Sierra-Leone-flagged cargo ship apparently set sail from Turkey, he said.
The engines of the ship were left on autopilot by fleeing crew and shut down due to malfunction late on Thursday.
One of the estimated 450 people on board the Ezadeen was able to operate the ship's radio and informed the coastguard that the crew had jumped ship.
The Italian air force sent a helicopter to lower rescuers on to the vessel as bad weather conditions made it impossible to board the ship other than from the air.

Surge in migrants
The latest high-seas drama came two days after Italian sailors intercepted a freighter carrying more than 700 mostly Syrian migrants which had been heading for the rocks of Italy's southeastern shore on autopilot.
The vessel had been abandoned by the people smugglers who had navigated it from Turkey via Greek waters.
In that incident, the Moldovan-registered Blue Sky M cargo ship got to within 8km, or 45 minutes sailing time, of a disaster before six navy officers were lowered on to the ship by helicopter and succeeded in bringing it under control.

Those on board included 60 children and two pregnant women, one of whom gave birth on board as the boat steamed towards catastrophe, according to the Italian Red Cross.

Many of the migrants on the ship were treated for hypothermia and broken limbs.

Italy has had to deal with a massive surge in migrants - many of them from the Middle East and the Horn of Africa - hoping to reach Europe by boat.
More than 170,000 people have been rescued in the last 14 months but an estimated 3,000 have perished trying to make the crossing.
 [aljazeera.com]
2/1/15
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7 comments:

  1. La marine italienne a pris, vendredi, le contrôle d’un navire transportant 450 immigrés clandestins dérivant au large de ses côtes. Il s’agit du deuxième cargo abandonné par son équipage en une semaine....

    Les autorités italiennes ont pris le contrôle du cargo chargé d’immigrants clandestins qui dérivait à environ 37 kilomètres de Crotone en Calabre. Six garde-côtes ont été déposés sur le cargo par un hélicoptère de l'aéronautique militaire et sont parvenus à prendre le contrôle du navire, abandonné par son équipage, a indiqué vendredi 2 janvier la marine militaire italienne.

    Ce navire de 73 mètres de long, découvert machines en panne et sans équipage, est immatriculé au Sierra Leone. C'est la deuxième fois en moins d’une semaine qu’un cargo est abandonné par des passeurs en pleine mer.

    Le navire a été identifié comme étant l'Ezadeen. Selon un site internet consacré au trafic maritime, le cargo fantôme serait parti de Chypre???????...... et sa destination officielle aurait été le port de Sète, dans le sud de la France.................http://www.france24.com/fr/20150102-second-cargo-charge-immigrants-a-derive-pres-cotes-italiennes-ezadeen/
    2/1/15

    ReplyDelete
  2. Geisterschiffe mit Flüchtlingen im Mittelmeer: "Ein neuer Grad der Grausamkeit"...

    Italiens Küstenwache hat das Schlimmste verhindert: Im Mittelmeer ist erneut ein Geisterschiff mit Hunderten Flüchtlingen aufgetaucht. Frontex sieht darin eine neue Geschäftsidee von Schleppern.

    Italiens Küstenwache ist erneut Hunderten Flüchtlingen auf einem führerlosen Frachter im Mittelmeer zur Hilfe geeilt. Die Einsatzkräfte brachten die unter der Flagge Sierra Leones fahrende "Ezadeen" nach eigenen Angaben unter Kontrolle. Das Schiff mit etwa 450 Migranten an Bord sollte in den Hafen der kalabrischen Küstenstadt Crotone geschleppt werden.......................http://www.n24.de/n24/Nachrichten/Politik/d/5932700/-ein-neuer-grad-der-grausamkeit-.html
    2/1/14

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The EU vowed Jan. 2 to fight people smugglers' new tactic of abandoning "ghost ships" full of migrants off European coasts...

      The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said it was "following closely the events surrounding" the crewless Ezadeen merchant ship which had drifted toward Italy's southern shores with 450 migrants aboard before Italian sailors took control of it Friday.

      It was the second incident in two days after the Blue Sky M ship was abandoned Wednesday by smugglers who set it on autopilot toward Italy's rocky shores with nearly 800 migrants aboard. "The rescues of the Blue Sky M two days ago and of the Ezadeen show that smugglers are finding new ways to enter EU territory," a commission spokesperson told AFP....................http://www.ellanodikhs.net/2015/01/eu-vows-to-fight-new-tactics-by-migrant.html
      2/1/15

      Delete
  3. Mercantile EZADEEN con 450 migranti a bordo prosegue la navigazione verso Corigliano Calabro. Previsto arrivare ore 21.00 (22:00)
    [Guardia Costiera/ Twitter]
    2/1/15

    ReplyDelete
  4. Abandoned migrant ship reaches Italian port...

    A ship that had been abandoned by its crew off Italy with up to 450 migrants on board has arrived at the southern Italian port of Corigliano Calabro.

    Earlier, rescuers boarded the Ezadeen after a passenger raised the alarm as it drifted in the Mediterranean.

    The ship, sailing under the flag of Sierra Leone, lost power in rough seas off the south-east of Italy.

    The gang that had trafficked them, abandoned the vessel three days ago.

    A total of 796 migrants were rescued from another ship found abandoned without any crew earlier in the week...................http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0103/670096-abandoned-migrant-ship-reaches-italian-port/
    3/1/15

    ReplyDelete
  5. Migrant-smugglers’ latest tactic: Put ships on autopilot ...

    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 past week in the span of three days, and both episodes could have ended in tragedy if the vessels had not been intercepted at sea...............http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/01/03/world/migrant-smugglers-latest-tactic-put-ships-on-autopilot/#.VKe-5MkYE9Q
    3/1/15

    ReplyDelete
  6. Der Vorsitzende der Deutschen Polizeigewerkschaft, Rainer Wendt, hat angesichts des neuen Phänomens der führerlosen Flüchtlings-Frachter schwere Vorwürfe gegen die EU erhoben.....

    Dass der „Mare Nostrum“-Einsatz des italienischen Militärs zur Rettung von Bootsflüchtlingen beendet und durch den von der EU-Grenzschutzagentur Frontex koordinierten Einsatz „Triton“ ersetzt worden sei, „war ein großer Fehler und hat vorhersehbar zu den jetzigen Entwicklungen geführt, die in der Tat die ganze Menschenverachtung und Brutalität der Schleuserbanden zeigen“, sagte Wendt dem Handelsblatt (Online-Ausgabe).

    Aus Wendts Sicht hätte Europa „Mare Nostrum“ weiterentwickeln und um eine „Vorverlagerungs-Strategie“ in den Mittelmeer-Anrainerstaaten erweitern müssen. „Stattdessen wird den Schleusern das ganze Mittelmeer überlassen und nur in Küstennähe wird Europa aktiv“, kritisierte der Gewerkschaftschef. Da dürfe sich niemand wundern, wenn die Schleuser sich darauf „blitzschnell“ einstellten, „denn das sind keine Laien, sondern gut organisierte Gruppen, die ihr schäbiges Geschäft sofort umorganisieren, wenn die Bedingungen sich ändern“.....................http://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/international/kritik-der-polizeigewerkschaft-europa-ueberlaesst-schleusern-das-ganze-mittelmeer/11180980.html
    3/1/15

    ReplyDelete

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