A ship abandoned off the Italian coast - with up to 450 migrants on board - is expected to reach land this evening.
The Italian Air Force sent a helicopter to the scene earlier - lowering Coast Guard officials to secure the vessel in stormy conditions.
Those on board include pregnant women and children, mostly thought to be fleeing Syria.
Six coastguard officers were airlifted aboard the ship after stormy seas made it impossible to reach the runaway vessel by boat.
They are now in control of the Sierra-Leone-flagged ship, the Ezadeen, which was abandoned by people traffickers as it headed towards the southern tip of Italy.
It is the second ship of its kind to be abandoned at sea in several days.
Rescue pilot Francesco Pastore said: "The mission was very difficult due to the conditions."
He said the migrants would not be evacuated. The ship is now being towed by an Icelandic Coast Guard ship to Italy.
Three doctors are also expected to be winched aboard the ship, which is carrying pregnant women and children, mostly thought to be fleeing Syria.
The 197ft-long ship was rescued floating around 40 miles off Capo di Leuca.
Coastguard Commander Filippo Marini said one of the migrants on board was able to operate the ship's radio and pleaded for help saying: "We're without crew, we're heading toward the Italian coast and we have no one to steer."
Before losing power, the ship had been moving at a brisk seven knots and had been spotted by a coastguard plane 80 miles offshore shortly after nightfall on Thursday.
The coastguard asked for assistance from Icelandic patrol boat Tyr, which was in the area on a mission with Frontex, the European Union's border agency.
The Tyr was able to draw alongside the runaway ship, but initially the weather conditions made boarding impossible.
The drama comes two days after Italian sailors intercepted an unmanned freighter carrying more than 700 mostly Syrian migrants that had been heading for the rocks in Italy's Puglia region.
The Moldovan-registered Blue Sky M cargo ship got to within five miles of a disaster before six navy officers were lowered on to the ship by helicopter and succeeded in bringing it under control.
The vessel's human cargo included 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 and broken limbs.
More than 170,000 people have been rescued by Italy in the last 14 months and it is estimated that hundreds, possibly thousands, have perished trying to make the crossing.
Originally posted at 9.00am
