Hundreds of immigrants land in Italy from ship abandoned by crew

Rome, Jan 4 : Italian authorities Saturday took charge of 360 immigrants who landed from the freighter Ezadeen at the southern port of Corigliano Calabro, from where they were taken to various assistance centers in the area. Among 360 traveling on the ship there were 243 men, 43 women and 74 minors, according to Filippo Marini, spokesman for the Italian coast guard that boarded the merchant ship Friday before dawn. The landing of the mostly Syrian immigrants was originally planned for Friday night, but was delayed due to technical problems of docking the ship that had been abandoned by its crew on the high seas. The disembarking operation was complicated by the fact that the ship's machinery, without electricity, had been damaged, the port authority said. The freighter had been abandoned in waters of the Ionian Sea where six members of the coast guard took it over. The ship, apparently registered in Sierra Leone, was found without any of its crew aboard, 70 kms from the southern Italian city of Lecce. Italian authorities are investigating the case to determine when, how and why the Ezadeen was left adrift on the high seas. They learned through questioning that the immigrants had each paid between $4,000 and $8,000 to obtain a place on the ship.