Italian authorities responded late Thursday to a ship without any crew that was carrying 450 migrants , that country 's coast guard said . It 's the second time this week Italy 's coast guard has rescued such a vessel . `` Because of the difficult weather conditions , the ship can only be reached by air . From what we know , the ship , which flies the flag of Sierra Leone , would have hundreds of migrants on board , '' the Italian air force said in a statement . It said the cargo ship Ezadeen was in at a standstill because of a blackout . The migrants launched an SOS , said Floriana Segreto , a spokeswoman for the Italian coast guard . Women and children are thought to be on the ship . By early Friday morning , the vessel remained at a standstill 58 miles ( 93 kilometers ) off the coast of the city of Crotone in the Ionian Sea , the coast guard said , where rescuers were trying to restart the boat 's engines . On Wednesday , a freighter carrying 768 people , most believed to be migrants from war-torn Syria , docked safely in the southern port of Gallipoli after the coast guard seized control . The Italian coast guard told CNN a `` real disaster '' was avoided when authorities boarded the Blue Sky M after the crew apparently jumped ship . Italian coast guard commander Filippo Marini said the vessel was cruising on autopilot toward the rocky Italian coast at 6 nautical miles per hour . The course of the vessel was reversed to avoid a collision with the rocks . The coast guard said a collision would not only have led to the deaths of passengers but would also have created an environmental disaster .
Rescuers are trying to restart the boat 's engines , the coast guard says . The boat without any crew is carrying the migrant . This is the second time this week the Italian coast guard has rescued such a migrant .