An NGO carrying out search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean has accused the Libyan coastguard of obstructing an attempt to rescue more than 170 people making the perilous journey across the sea to Europe.
In a statement, Médecins Sans Frontières said its ship came to the rescue of two boats in international waters on Saturday: a small fiberglass boat carrying 28 people and a two-deck wooden vessel with 143 people on board, which seemed distressed. MSF said that as they approached the larger boat, the Libyan coastguard also approached and “carried out dangerous maneuvers” that put the people on board, most of them Syrian refugees, in even greater danger.
In a video taken by the crew of an assistance plane operated by the maritime rescue NGO Sea-Watch, a patrol boat positions itself between two rigid boats operated by MSF, one of which has already started taking people on board . The positioning makes it impossible to move the second boat towards the ship in distress