Straight from rescue operations on the ro/ro ferry Norman Atlantic, the Italian navy and coast guard rushed to intercept the Blue Sky M, a 3,500 DWT Moldavian freighter, which was reported to be carrying 700–1,000 migrants.  A distress call had been received from someone aboard the ship. There were unconfirmed reports of armed men aboard the ship. When the Italian coast guard arrived, they found that the crew had abandoned Blue Sky M but had left it on autopilot steering straight for the coast neared Santa Maria di Leuca, on the southernmost tip of Italy. The coast guard averted a potential disaster by taking control of the ship, which was later taken to the Italian port of Gallipoli. The migrants are believed to to be mostly Syrian. There are unconfirmed reports of four to five dead aboard the ship.

The traffickers who organize the trips often abandon the ships before they reach shore to avoid arrest.  A report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) said 2014 saw record high numbers of people making the often treacherous journey by boat, with the highest number of migrants seen in the Mediterranean. Nearly 350,000 made the voyage between January 1 and December 1 this year and 4,270 have died while doing so. The 2014 numbers were driven by the ongoing civil war in Syria, which has displaced millions of people.