At least 600 immigrants rescued from drifting ship

The Italian navy has taken more than 600 would-be immigrants from a freighter adrift off Italy's southern coast.

Eight of the passengers who were suffering from dehydration were taken by a speedboat to the southern port of Crotone.

Coastguards spotted the ship, which had apparently run out of fuel, several miles off Italy's Calabrian coast.

An Italian navy frigate carrying the rest of those rescued - most of them believed to be Iraqi and Turkish Kurds - is due to reach Crotone.

Officials are still trying to determine the nationality of the Ammoil, a freighter, and from where the vessel had sailed.