ROME: Italian special forces boarded a cargo ship sailing from Turkiye to France on Friday, after the crew were threatened by “pirates” off the Italian coast, the defence ministry said. “An operation is underway on a vessel boarded by pirates... The stowaways were using what seem to be weapons like daggers” to threaten the crew, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told reporters. Marines boarded the ship off Naples after the group, “allegedly migrants, threatened the crew with knives,” a ministry press officer told AFP. Special forces have since regained control of the ship, which had been “sailing from Turkiye to France”, but a search was underway for some of the stowaways, the press officer said.