The Greek coastguard told the dpa news agency that the Norwegian Epic liner initially took the stranded migrants on board, alerting authorities about the incident.

According to eyewitness accounts, the migrants were found on a 30-foot (10-meter) sailing boat.

The rescue took part under the direction of the Greek Search and Rescue Center, with the migrants being taken safely to the port of Kalamata on the southern edge of the Peloponnese peninsula, part of the Greek mainland.

Greek public broadcaster ERT said that no information had yet been made available on the origin and nationalities of the people who were rescued.

It is also unclear whether the boat had intended to reach Greece or if it was aiming for Italy before running into trouble.

Migrants handed over to authorities in Kalamata

Upon disembarking the migrants, the cruise ship continued on its itinerary; however, due to the disruption caused by the rescue and the unscheduled stopover in Kalamata, the liner reportedly had to skip its upcoming scheduled stop on the Greek island of Santorini for operational reasons.

The Norwegian Epic, which sails under the flag of the Bahamas, was built in 2009 and has occupancy for more than 4,000 guests with a crew of over 1,700; at the time of its launch in 2010, it was the third-biggest cruise ship in the world.

The ship left the Italian port of Civitavecchia near the capital Rome the day before the incident at sea.

Sea rescues performed by cruise ships occur rarely, as most areas of the Mediterranean Sea are patrolled by various authorities as well as by the EU's external border agency Frontex.

with dpa