In 'Race Against Time,' Italy Saves Ship on Crash Course

The Italian Coast Guard rescued 970 migrants today after smugglers put their cargo ship on automatic pilot heading straight for a crash into the Italian coast and abandoned the command. The Coast Guard officials said the migrants, most believed to be Syrians and including many children and pregnant women, arrived safely in Gallipoli, in Italy's southeastern Puglia region, before dawn today. More than 100 were treated for hypothermia. "It was a race against time," said Coast Guard Cmdr. Filippo Marini. "The ship was only a few (nautical) miles away from the coast of Puglia" last night when six Coast Guard officials were lowered by helicopter onto the bridge of the Moldovan-flagged Blue Sky M to try to correct the ship's course.

Marini said the smugglers apparently had left the engine blocked on automatic pilot at a speed of nearly 7mph headed for the coast. "There would have been death and destruction" if the vessel had crashed into land, he added. Because a storm was churning up the Adriatic Sea, rescuers couldn't board the ship from nearby Coast Guard vessels. But once on board they unblocked the engine and steered the vessel safely into Gallipoli's harbor, Marini said. The Coast Guard traced the ship's location after a passenger yesterday made a satellite phone call seeking help. To avoid capture, smugglers frequently abandon migrants at sea, sometimes overturning the passengers' unseaworthy boats. Asked how the smugglers could flee given the stormy seas, Marini said the migrants were being interviewed to see if the smugglers might be mingled among them. (More Italy stories.)