The Libyan coastguard fired multiple times while two boats of the NGO SOS Mediterranée were conducting a rescue of eleven people in distress in international waters on Friday (7 July). The shots came from a vessel that the EU donated to the Libyan coast guard in a ceremony on Thursday (22 June). EURACTIV was on scene.
The event occurred during the second rescue in international waters overlooking the Libyan coast that the Ocean Viking performed that day, saving a total of 57 people.
The SOS Mediterranée crew made their first rescue around 12 (CEST), in international waters 45 miles from the Libyan city of Garabulli. They found an overcrowded fibreglass boat with plenty of petrol cans adrift with 40 men, five women and a girl, without life jackets.
After these people were brought onboard the mothership, the Libya coastguard appeared near the empty boat.
After that rescue, the Ocean Viking started proceeding to a second target a few miles away from the first one. The boat received a may day relay about a boat in distress with around 10 people onboard that were eventually found 77 miles from Khoms. In the meantime, the Libyans followed the Ocean Viking, towing the first fibreglass boat.
The Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) told the Ocean Viking that the ministry of Interior assigned them the port of Civitavecchia, near Rome, to disembark the people from the first rescue.
The Ocean Viking told Italy that they received another may day relay from an unidentified plane. Italy told the Ocean Viking to “proceed and assess”.
According to international law, when a boat is found in distress at sea, it is required to swiftly proceed with a rescue.
The Ocean Viking tried to establish communication with the Libyans that were not speaking in English but only in Arabic. According to maritime law, being able to speak in English is mandatory for any coastguard.
An Arabic speaking member of the crew, whose name is kept under anonymity for security reasons, talked to them.
“Go away” they said initially. The crew member told the Libyans that they were in international waters and that the authorities said to proceed and assess the situation regarding the boat in distress. Asked whether to proceed with the rescue, the Libyans replied “ok, ok”.
However, after the eleven survivors got in the speedboat, the Libyans began a series of dangerous manoeuvres, first attempting to block the route of the two speedboats at an extremely high speed before opening fire.
“The exhibition of violence is completely against every rule of rescue at sea and humanitarian law. If there are people at sea rescuing other people, they should know that creating panic and adding danger in a situation where there is already danger is not just a matter of common sense but it is also a matter of justice,” said Alessandro, the Search and Rescue (SAR) team leader, who was in one of the two speedboats when the encounter with the Libyans occurred.
“They proved again that they are not rescuing people. What they are doing is adding another level of complexity and violence which is completely unreasonable,” the SAR leader added.
The crew on the second speedboat, which were nearer to the Libyans, confirmed to EURACTIV that they listened to another shot before the one shown in the footage.
A video from the plane Colibri 2 of the NGO Pilotes Volontaires seen by EURACTIV, shows how the Libyans shot a third time while the two speedboats were going to the mothership. The video shows the bullets hitting the water.
On 07.07.23, #OceanViking rescued 11 people following a mayday relay. During the operation, @SOSMedIntl crew & 11 survivors faced a security incident with a Libyan patrol vessel shooting in close range of our fast rescue boats. Here the reconstruction of this unacceptable event👇 pic.twitter.com/EWzcz5Rvbn
— SOS MEDITERRANEE (@SOSMedIntl) July 9, 2023
The ship from which the shots came was an ex-Italian Finance Guard boat, a “Carrubia Class” donated to the Libyans under the EU project “Support to integrated Border and Migration Management in Libya”.
The Libyan coastguard asset funded by the EU from which the shootings came. Images from a GoPro footage from the speedboat while going to the Ocean Viking. [Claire Juchat/SOS Mediterranée]
The photo shown taken from the footage was compared with the picture of the EU donation ceremony that Radio Radicale journalist Sergio Scandura published on Twitter on Friday (23 June).
According to the European Commission, the project “aims to strengthen the capacity of relevant Libyan authorities in the areas of border and migration management, including border control and surveillance, addressing smuggling and trafficking of human beings, search and rescue at sea and in the desert”.
In a debate in the European Parliament on Thursday (6 July) with EU migration Commissioner Ylva Johansson , the Commissioner said that “we have a clear indication of criminal groups infiltrating the Libyan coastguard”.
The Libyan coastguard uses its assets, which are usually faster than NGOs ones, to intercept migrants and illegally return them to Libya, where they experience documented abuses in detention centres in a well established network of human trafficking.
Survivors onboard the Ocean Viking confirmed to EURACTIV that they had been detained, freed after a ransom was paid and then tried to escape via sea. Some of them tried to escape more than one time, and had been intercepted by the Libyan coastguard and returned to detention camps .
A young man, whose name and provenance are kept anonymous for security reasons, tried to cross the Mediterranean six times before being rescued by the Ocean Viking.
The EU was heavily criticised by an United Nations report released in late March, which documented the collusion of the “high-ranking staff of the Libyan Coast Guard,” the “Stability Support Apparatus and the Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration,” with traffickers and smugglers.
According to the report, the latter “are reportedly connected to militia groups, in the context of the interception and deprivation of liberty of migrants”.
EU delivers new patrol boats to Libya despite militia links
The EU delivered two patrol boats to Libya in a ceremony on Thursday (22 June) in the Sicilian city of Messina in the presence of European Commission officials, the Italian authorities, and the Libyan coastguard, according to a press statement …
[Edited by Benjamin Fox]
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