An unmanned cargo ship with hundreds of migrants on board is heading towards the southern tip of Italy - the second vessel of its kind to be abandoned at sea in several days.
The Italian Air Force has sent a helicopter carrying coastguard officials to bring the Ezadeen, a Sierra-Leone-flagged vessel, under control.
"Because of the difficult weather conditions the ship can only be boarded from the air," the air force said in a statement.
The 197ft-long ship is floating around 40 miles off Capo di Leuca in choppy seas.
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."
It is not clear how many people are on board, but the ANSA news agency said there could be as many as 450.
Prior to 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 the weather conditions made boarding impossible.
The Icelandic vessel has three doctors on board who will be winched on to the merchant ship by helicopter to treat any ill passengers, the air force said.
The drama comes two days after Italian sailors intercepted an unmanned freighter carrying more than 700 mostly Syrian migrants which 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 some 60 children and two pregnant women, one of whom gave birth on board as the boat headed towards catastrophe, 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.
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