Cyprus mounted a rescue operation on Thursday after a boat with no fewer than 300 people on board was spotted about 100 km off its southwestern shores.
The Cypriot Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said it received a distress signal from the boat early in the morning and also a message from a tanker sailing nearby saying the situation was precarious as weather conditions in the area were bad.
Report says state televisions showed pictures taken from a Cypriot police helicopter showing people sitting on the main deck of what appeared to be a fishing trawler.
Ministry of Defence sources said that people on board were refugees, including many women and children, possibly fleeing the fighting in Syria.
The Defence Minister, Christoforos Phokaides, told newsmen that measures were being taken to rescue the people on the boat.
However, the defence ministry, which is in charge of rescue operations, said it has dispatched two helicopters and two police launches to the rescue area southwest of the city of Paphos.
The tanker which first spotted the boat is staying by the boat and a Cypriot cruise ship, the Salamis, which sailing nearby, was also diverted to the rescue area to take on people if necessary.
