Smugglers set ship€ packed with 970 migrants € on crash course with Italian coast and abandoned it

The Italian Coast Guard rescued 970 migrants Wednesday after smugglers put their cargo ship on automatic pilot heading straight for a crash into the Italian coast and abandoned the command.The Coast Guard officials said the migrants, most believed to be Syrians and including many children and pregnant women, arrived safely in Gallipoli, in Italy’s southeastern Puglia region, before dawn Wednesday. More than 100 migrants were treated for hypothermia.