Crotone, Italy - Italian authorities on Wednesday took around 100 would-be immigrants - believed to be ethnic Kurds - to a migrant holding centre after the group made an illegal landing on Italy's southern Calabria coast.

The group, including several women and children, arrived on a 20-metre trawler which beached overnight in an area south of the seaside town of Crotone, the ANSA news agency reported.

Alerted by locals, police tracked down the would-be immigrants who had left the beach on foot after breaking up into smaller groups.

Authorities at the holding centre were trying to determine the nationality of the would-be immigrants. (dpa)