Women and children were among hundreds of migrants left stranded aboard the Ezadeen, which docked in the port of Corigliano Calabro around 11:00pm Friday after a delicate operation by the Italian navy to take control of the ageing vessel.
It had been left to drift in stormy seas without fuel or electricity, and in the dark rescuers had first thought that it could be holding up to 450 people.
But after docking the authorities revised the count to 232 men, 54 women and 74 children aboard, most of whom are thought to be Syrians fleeing the war in their homeland.
All were said to be in good health.
Six coast guard officers were lowered from a helicopter onto the deck of the Sierra Leone-flagged vessel on Friday to set up a tow for the 40 kilometres (25 miles) to the Italian coast.
The rescue is the latest in a series of maritime operations Italy has mounted in recent days as it struggles with a record wave of migrants making the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean.
On Wednesday, the navy faced more drama after it stopped another crewless "ghost" ship left drifting in its waters with nearly 800 migrants on board.
The appearance of the two drifting boats full of migrants within a matter of days has raised concerns that smugglers have started abandoning large boats full of people off the coast of Europe as a new tactic to maximize profits from their ruthless trade.
The Ezadeen, which usually carries cattle, had been en route from Famagusta in northern Turkish-controlled Cyprus to the southern French port of Sete, but had first stopped at the Syrian port of Tartus, according to a shipping website.
'We are alone'
Before it came to a halt, the nearly 50-year-old Ezadeen had been moving at seven knots, and was spotted by a coastguard plane 80 miles offshore shortly after nightfall.
After the crew jumped ship, a woman refugee on board was able to operate the ship's radio and told the coastguard that the crew had abandoned the vessel, Italian navy spokesman Captain Filippo Marini said.
"We are alone, there is no one, help us!" the woman cried, he said.
The coast guard asked for assistance from Icelandic patrol boat Tyr, which was in the area on a mission with the European Union's border agency Frontex, but rough weather conditions made boarding impossible.
Once the Ezadeen had run out of fuel, five Tyr crew members were winched onto the merchant ship by helicopter to care for passengers until Italian coast guard officers arrived to take control.
"The migrants aboard were visibly distressed but overall in good medical condition. They have been provided with food, water and basic medical assistance," a Frontex statement said Friday.
The incident marked the third sea rescue operation Italy's navy has been forced to mount in a week.
The first came with the deadly fire that broke out on the Norman Atlantic ferry Sunday between Greece and Italy.
Italian prosecutors fear the ferry could contain the bodies of still undiscovered illegal immigrants and unregistered passengers.
Bari prosecutor Giuseppe Volpe said almost 500 people may have been aboard -- far above the 474 officially on the manifest, and prompting fears the current death toll of 13 may rise once the ferry is fully searched in Brindisi.
Volpe said it had been "established" that illegal immigrants were aboard, something confirmed by several of the rescued passengers. The search is expected to concentrate on trucks parked in the car deck where the fire started.
New smuggling tactics
On Wednesday, a ship carrying nearly 770 migrants was found drifting towards the rocks off Italy's southeastern shore.
The Blue Sky M freighter was on autopilot, after having been abandoned by the people smugglers who had sailed in from Turkey.
The Moldovan-registered vessel got within five miles of running aground before six navy officers were lowered on to the ship by helicopter, and succeeded in bringing it under control.
The vessel's passengers included some 60 children and two pregnant women, one of whom gave birth on board, according to the Italian Red Cross.
Many of the migrants on the ship were treated for hypothermia or injuries including broken limbs.
More than 170,000 people have been rescued at sea by Italy in the last 14 months, and hundreds, possibly thousands, have perished trying to make the crossing.
Increasingly, the traffickers appear to be abandoning their human cargo at sea, with more now using bigger vessels than the converted fishing boats and other craft they previously favoured.
The International Organization for Migration estimated Friday in Geneva that people smugglers grossed over $1 million (830,000 euros) on just one of the abandoned ships alone.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/followceleb.cms?alias=Sierra Leone-flagged vessel,Italy migrant 'ghost ship'
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