A group of migrants have
reportedly hijacked a merchant ship off Libya, Interior Minister
Matteo Salvini said Wednesday.
He said the ship had been heading for Libya after rescuing
the migrants off Libya but was now heading for Malta or
Lampedusa.
"It would be the first act of piracy on the high seas, with
migrants who have hijacked a ship that had reached 6 nautical
miles off the Libyan coast," he said.
Salvini said there was no chance of the migrants being
allowed to land in Italy.
"They should know that they will only see Italy with a
telescope", he said.
The interior ministry said later that the ship, the Elhiblu
I, was heading north.
It said "it made an abrupt change of course after the vessel
had arrived six miles from the entry into the port of Tripoli".
"They're not shipwrecked migrants but pirates," Salvini told
reporters.
"Poor migrants who hijack the merchantman that saved them
because they want to decide the course," he added on Facebook
later.
He held up a map showing the ship halfway between Malta and
Italy and reiterated "I tell the pirates, forget Italy. This is
the clearest demonstration that it is not a rescue operation but
a criminal traffic in human beings who even arrive at hijacking
a private vessel. It is an act of criminality, or organised
crime. Italian waters are off-limits to criminals".
Also Wednesday, a Libyan motor launch intercepted and saved
120 migrants in Libyan search-and-rescue waters, and is now
returning to Tripoli.
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