The Spanish NGO Proactiva Open
Arms announced Tuesday evening via social networks that its
ship, Blue Gulf, had been seized for two hours by the Libya
coastguard in international waters and forced to head to Libyan
ones.
"Having been released, the Blue Gulf is sailing northwards,"
it wrote, after "almost two hours of being seized under serious
threats and orders from the Libyan coastguard."
Proactiva, which is based in Barcelona, is one of the five
NGOs that signed the Italian interior ministry's Code of
Conduct.
In the first message, which was posted around 7 PM, the
organization wrote that the "Blue Gulf has been seized in
international waters by the Libyan coastguard", noting that it
had been "forced to follow them into Libyan waters, threatening
to shoot us if we did not follow the orders".
On its Twitter profile, Proactiva Open Arms reported other
episodes of tension with the Libyan coastguard.
In a video dated August 9, shots can be heard being fired
into the air during a recording of a conversation between the
coastguard and the Blue Gulf.
The Proactiva ship has been conducting search and rescue
operations in the Mediterranean since 2016 and has in that time
rescued about 18,000 people.
The SOS Mediterranèe's ship, the Aquarius, is meanwhile
heading towards the Italian port of Pozzallo, where it is
expected to dock around 5 PM with 121 migrants onboard.
MSF staff are onboard the ship.
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