Crew left migrant-packed ship on collision course

A cargo ship that sent a distress signal on Tuesday was on a collision course with the rocky Italian coast, carrying almost 1,000 migrants, after the crew abandoned the vessel.

Italian Coast Guard personnel boarded the Moldovan-flagged Blue Sky M freighter early Wednesday morning and guided it safely into dock in Gallipoli.

Officials confirmed to CBS News that the ship was carrying 970 migrants -- more than 100 of whom were receiving medical attention in Italy after the ordeal.

The vessel had been left on what amounts to auto-pilot for the last week after the crew abandoned it, and it was headed for the Italian coastline when the Coast Guard intercepted it and took control.

There were no weapons found on the ship, in spite of some initial reports Tuesday that armed men had boarded the vessel.

An Italian Red Cross official told the Reuters news agency that most of the migrants were refugees from war-torn Syria. Television images showed the migrants being taken off the ship and loaded onto waiting buses at Gallipoli in the cold morning air. Those who received medical attention were reportedly treated for hypothermia.

Among the migrants were dozens of women, some pregnant, and many small children.

Coast Guard Cmdr. Filippo Marini told the Associated Press that six of his personnel managed to gain control of the ship just several nautical miles from the Italian coast. Had they failed, he said there would likely have been "death and destruction."

Italy has been inundated by migrants from Africa and Syria in recent years and regularly intercepts crippled vessels carrying victims of the human trafficking trade as they enter Italian waters.

In October 2013, a fishing vessel crammed with almost 400 would-be migrants caught fire and capsized near the town of Lampedusa. A Somali man believed to be the organizer of the ill-fated smuggling voyage was arrested shortly after the tragedy, which left more than 365 people dead.