SOS Méditerranée said on Twitter that on July 7 the crew of the Ocean Viking rescued 11 people following a mayday relay. During the operation a Libyan patrol vessel reportedly shot "in close range of our fast rescue boats."

In a video posted by SOS Méditerranée on Twitter, the Ocean Viking is heard warning the Libyan coast guard by radio of its rescue operation. "This is the Ocean Viking. We have made contact with the dinghy [in distress]," repeats a crew member. A patrol boat is seen approaching the two boats from the humanitarian ship. The crew is evacuating the migrants from their small fiberglass boat.

Several shots are then fired in the air. The crew members of the Ocean Viking and rescuees are seen ducking. "They endangered the lives of the crew and the survivors," SOS Méditerranée said in a tweet.

During the confrontation, the Libyans did not communicate in English but in Arabic only, a journalist on board the Ocean Viking said. According to maritime law, proficiency in English is compulsory for all coast guards.

The scene was also filmed by the cameras on the zodiac boats of the SOS Méditerranée ship and by the volunteer pilots present in the air at the time of the altercation. No injuries were reported.

The Ocean Viking is currently on its way to the port of Civitavecchia, near Rome. It is three days away from the port, and is carrying 57 migrants on board.

'You can't shoot at us!'

This is not the first time that rescue groups have reported such incidents. A similar incident had been reported by SOS Méditerranée on March 25. In a video posted on Twitter, shots are fired and a crew member asks the Libyan authorities to "leave them alone." "We are in international waters, you can't shoot us," she insists.

It is also not the first time that NGOs have accused Tripoli of using weapons against humanitarian workers or migrants. Several incidents have been documented in recent years. In one particular incident on February 22, 2022, Libyan coast guards fired on a boat of around 80 migrants. One migrant was killed and three others were injured.

A month earlier, people on board the humanitarian ship Louise Michel witnessed shots fired by Libyans at a migrant who was trying to escape by jumping into the water. The man was not found afterwards.

In July 2021, Libyan authorities also used their weapons off Lampedusa. The scene, filmed by the NGO SeaWatch from its Seabird surveillance plane, showed a Libyan boat approaching very close to a wooden boat, and firing live ammunition into the water.

Controversial agreement between the EU and Libyan coast guards

Since 2016, when Italy and Libya signed their first border patrol agreement, more than 130,000 people have been intercepted at sea and sent back to Libya, according to SOS Humanity. At the same time, some 15,700 migrants have died or gone missing in the central Mediterranean since 2016, according to the IOM's Missing Migrants Project. This migratory route remains one of the deadliest in the world.

In January the Council of the European Union extended the Irini military operation in the Mediterranean until March 31, 2025. Launched in 2020, the agreement meant to contribute to the implementation of the UN arms embargo on Libya also provides for the training and capacity building of the Libyan coast guard and navy. According to the European Council website, the operation is also mandated to "contribute to the disruption of the business model of human smuggling and trafficking networks through information gathering and patrolling by planes."

This partnership comes in support of another agreement signed between Libya and Italy. That EU-supported agreement aims since 2017 to fight against irregular immigration by giving the Libyan authorities the authority over rescues off their coasts. Previously, those tasks were under the responsibility of the maritime rescue coordination center in Rome or of Valletta, Malta. Italy, too, provides equipment and trains Libyan authorities to stop migrants in the Mediterranean.