Libya turns back nearly 500 migrants after near-collision with NGO ship

Libyans carry out push-back of 500 migrants crossing the Mediterranean after coordinating rescue with Italian authorities

“Without any warning, they crossed our bow on the way to the migrant boat – They made an extremely dangerous manoeuvre. They nearly hit our boat, they endangered our crew.”
“Without any warning, they crossed our bow on the way to the migrant boat – They made an extremely dangerous manoeuvre. They nearly hit our boat, they endangered our crew.”

Libya’s coastguard intercepted nearly 500 migrants packed onto a wooden boat and returned them to Tripoli on Wednesday, after warning off an NGO ship that was preparing to pick them up for passage to Europe.

Footage filmed by Sea-Watch, a German NGO whose rescue workers are out at sea succouring boat migrants, showed a Libyan coastguard vessel coming within metres of its own ship as it sped to stop the migrants.

The Tripoli coastguard said the incident occurred about 30km north of Libya’s coast. “An international rescue organization called Sea-Watch tried to hinder the work of our coastguard ... in a bid to take the migrants, claiming Libya is not safe for migrants,” spokesman Ayoub Qassem said.

Qassem said the coastguard had also exchanged fire with smugglers, but gave no details.

Ruben Neugebauer, a spokesman for Sea-Watch, said the NGO had received instruction from Italy’s coastguard control centre in Rome that the Libyan coastguard would be taking over “on-scene command”, and that the Sea-Watch ship had stopped to await further instructions.

“Without any warning, they crossed our bow on the way to the migrant boat,” Neugebauer said. “They made an extremely dangerous manoeuvre. They nearly hit our boat, they endangered our crew.”

Qassem said the wooden boat intercepted on Wednesday was carrying nearly 300 Moroccans, 145 Bangladeshis, 23 Tunisians, and other migrants from elsewhere in Africa and the Middle East.

Those on board said they had left the western Libyan city of Sabratha on Tuesday night. There were about 20 women, some five of whom were being taken for medical treatment as they arrived in Tripoli. One appeared to be seriously ill.

One 24-year-old Moroccan man said he had come to Libya five weeks earlier in order to try to reach Europe, Reuters said. A Syrian woman on board said she had travelled through six countries to reach Libya, paying $1,000 in each and leaving two sons aged 12 and 13 behind in Jordan.