As publicly denounced a few hours ago by Sea-Watch, the civilian aircraft Seabird observed this morning a violent interception operated, in international waters off Sabratha, by one of the Libyan Corrubia-class patrol boats, donated in recent years by Italian governments.
The unit of the so-called Libyan coast guard rammed and caused the sinking of a dinghy overloaded with at least 50 people. Some of them were surely captured and deported to Libya.
The Seabird aircraft and the civilian ship Louise Michel searched for hours to see if there were any survivors still in the water, but the search was unsuccessful.
For Laura Marmorale, president of MEDITERRANEA Saving Humans: 'We are facing yet another criminal behaviour by militias that are supported by Italy and the European institutions, and that do not take care, as a coastguard should do, of rescuing human lives at risk at sea, but terrorise people fleeing from Libya, using violence and putting them in danger with the sole aim of capturing them and bringing them back. This is what they have been trained and paid for. This is what our rulers mean when they talk about 'collaborating with North African countries to stop departures'.’
But this episode in a long series," Marmorale continues, "also explains the polemics of the last few days against the work of the NGO ships and, incidentally, against the German government. Meloni, Tajani, Salvini and Piantedosi continue to fuel their campaign against migrants, against solidarity and against the ships of the Civil Fleet, because they do not want inconvenient witnesses in the central Mediterranean to the real crimes against international law and fundamental rights that are committed every day in the name and on behalf of the Italian and European policy of closing borders.
And please," concluded the President of MEDITERRANEAN, "spare us your crocodile tears on 3 October next.
