get them off the rescue ship? then what? let me first give you more details we just received about this 446 migrants on this boat. we understand that they were rescued by italian coast guard in greek waters. rather near greece. the majority are syrian. the rest ten other nationalities. and we understand that, that the smugglers, the basically the crew of the boats are also on board. as far as what happens next. they ll get off the ship. they will be given water immediately. if they don t have shoes they will be given shoes. then they will have a quick very cursory medical checkup. then they will be processed by the italian authorities and eventually bused to one of the migrant centers here in sicily. and often times they will be moved elsewhere in italy. of course, the problem is that this has become something of a political hot potato in italy. two northern provinces have
sicily. cnn s karl penhaul is there. he joined us on the phone. karl what can you tell us about this ship? reporter: john for the last hour, we ve been watching people 446 migrants get off an italian naval vessel. they were rescued after eight days afloat in the mediterranean. according to early survivor accounts they said they actually set sail from egypt. aboard the ship egyptians, there are syrians fleeing the civil conflict there. and there are africans from the fall of west africa as well. we ve seen poverty and the fall of state and conflict areas as well. and this is really just looking at the migrants departing the ship you really get a sense of how bad things must be. these people cheating death just to get a chance at a new life. we have seen women getting off aboard carrying their babies in their arms.
around the persian gulf so the loss of that carrier doesn t affect the operations in iraq and syria. colonel francona, as always, we appreciate your time. thank you, sir. the captain of a migrant ship that capsized in the mediterranean over the weekend is now in jail. both are accused of man lawsuiter and human trafficking. they re among the 28 known survivors of this disaster. more than 800 others are believed to have drown. in another incident on tuesday, 446 people were rescued from a fishing boat off the coast of italy. libya says it has arrested hundreds of migrants trying to make their way to europe. on tuesday, libyan security forces detained 70 migrants waiting to board a boat to italy.
446 migrants expected in augusta within the next half-hour. they ll be on board the italian navy vessel the bettegat and they re, most of them are syrian. but clearly this is something, even though we are here and we are going live from this port. this happens basically every day. we expect as the weather gets better, with spring and summer, that ever-more numbers will arrive. now, as far the case of the ship that went down on, early sunday morning, with as many as 950 people on board, yes, these two individuals, the tunisian captain and syrian crew mate are currently in custody. they were interrogated yet again yesterday by the prosecutor in catania. there are reports in italian media. according to one of the people that was questioned by the
well as the civil war in syria. new video just in showing people sleeping on top of one another here. look at this. what one survivor calls a huge garbage bin on a cramped boat packed with migrants. hundred of them were trying to reach italy from syria. the exclusive video obtained. today 450 migrants being rescued off the italian coast. nearly 60 children among those picked up by two italian navy ships. meanwhile, the captain and crew member of a migrant boat that capsized at sea saturday are under arrest. more than 800 people were on board, but only few were rescued. the others are feared dead. let s go to italy in to catania. tell me about those rescued today. reporter: as you can see, this is a migrant crisis that escalates almost hour by hour. 446 migrants plucked from that