NGOs say Libyan Coast Guard endangers migrants by firing shots during rescue mission

NGOs are saying that the Libyan Coast Guard endangered the rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean by firing shots into the air. Panic set in and rescue teams were left struggling while people jumped into the sea.

According to NGOs, while teams from the aid organisations Doctors Without Borders and SOS Méditerranée attempted to rescue people from boats in distress in the Mediterranean Sea on May 23, the Libyan coast guard approached the boats, intimidated the passengers and then fired gunshots into the air, threatening people’s lives and creating mayhem.

The search and rescue ship Aquarius responded to reports that several boats were in distress and while rescue workers were distributing life jackets to the passengers on one boat and brought more than 20 people on board, they were called to another boat, which was in a much more critical situation.

During this time, on Libyan coast guard boat, with mounted weapons, approached and personnel boarded one of the distressed boats. They asked the migrants for their valuables and instructed them, seemingly at gunpoint, to jump into the sea.  Some 60 people ended up overboard, preferring to face the cold water rather than the Libyan coast guard.

According to Doctors without Borders, the migrants felt they were in imminent danger, that’s why they agreed to jump into the Mediterranean, putting their lives at risk.

“When the Libyans pointed their weapons at us, asking us to give them all our money and cell phones and telling us to jump in the water, we did what they said and many of us jumped into the water,” said one survivor of the incident according to an MSF press release. “I was not afraid; I preferred to die at sea rather than being repressed and to die in Libya.”

Luckily, some of the passengers were already wearing life jackets. The guards fired into the air, in an attempt to further scare the migrants.

“Two Libyan coast guards, wearing uniforms and armed, stepped onto one of the rubber boats. They took phones, money and other belongings from the passengers”, said Annemarie Loof, MSF operational manager.”People became panicked and felt threatened. The passengers were terrified from the aggressive conduct of the Libyan coast guards. Many passengers, who had luckily already received life jackets before the shooting began, jumped off the boats into the sea in fear. ”

What makes the incident even more disturbing, apart from the coast guard’s indifference to the people’s well-being is the fact that they have received training and support from the European Union. Doctors without Borders are now asking the European Union and in particular Italian authorities to stop providing either direct or indirect help to the Libyan Coast Guard as this will only further endanger people’s lives.

With all the panic caused by the incident, Doctors without Borders report that they were able, together with SOS Méditerranée to safely bring 1,004 people, including a two-week-old baby, on board the Aquarius.