we can speak now to commander andrea tassara, who joins me on the phone from rome. thank you very much indeed for joining us. can you tell me first of all the condition of those migrants on the boat? >> yes. good morning. the condition of migrants onboard are good, but there are about 40, 4-0 children, and onboard there is not food, water, and so on. we are trying to manage the transport of food milk water, and so on onboard the merchant ship. transport will be made by a helicopter and italian coast guard patrol boat. it's another very difficult day for italian coast guard personnel. but we are sure that the operation will be good in the future, will be finished in a better way. >> yes, you mentioned -- sorry to interrupt. you mentioned that it's putting a lot of demand, a lot of strain on you and your resources. this is the second case this week. realistically, how much can you deal with? >> yes, the second this week. another plenty of resources. helicopter, patrol boat, and so on. but we are always on watch, 24 hours a day. and the coast guard is always ready. alw

earlier, commander andrea tassara from the italian coast guard gave me this update. >> yes, good morning. the condition of migrants onboard the vessel are good, but there are about 40, 4-0, children onboard. there is not food, water, and so on. so, we try in this moment, we are trying to manage a transport of the food, milk, water, and so on, onboard the merchant ship. this transport will be made by a adopt, and italian coast guard patrol boat. it's another very difficult day for italian coast guard personnel, but we are trained for this, and we are sure that the operation will be good and in the future we'll be finished in a better way. >> that's commander tassara. certainly a challenge for the coast guard. looks like pretty callous actions from the traffickers themselves as well. william spindler is the spokesman for the united nations refugee agency. he describes this as a worrying new trend. >> it seems to be a new trend where hundreds of migrants and refugees are crammed into cargo ships and sent without a crew in the direction of italy. and the conditions in which these people trav