"Masked men" aboard two zodiacs intimidated and disrupted the rescue operation of 93 migrants by the crew of the vessel Ocean Viking, according to the NGO SOS Mediterranee, which operates the ship. This incident occurred in Libyan Search and Rescue (SAR) waters.
On June 9, two unidentified zodiacs approached the scene of a rescue operation, and two "masked men embarked on the boat with survivors still onboard, creating panic and people jumping in the water," the NGO SOS Mediterranee said on its X account.
The incident happened while a rescue operation was underway to save 93 migrants, among them four women and three children, from a double-deck wooden boat.
According to SOS Mediterranee, the two men with their faces covered boarded the boat with those rescued still on board, generating panic among the shipwrecked. Several people jumped into the water.
Approximately 15 people were rescued by the team of SOS Mediterranee, the NGO said. The masked men then left, reportedly dragging the empty wooden boat away with them.
"One shipwreck survivor fainted on the deck when he arrived on the Ocean Viking due to stress and hypothermia. All the 93 rescued migrants were taken on board the Ocean Viking."
Shortly afterward, it was reported by Sea Bird, the plane conducting reconnaissance missions for SOS Mediterranée, that another wooden dinghy was in distress. Ocean Viking rescued 27 migrants after obtaining approval from a Libyan patrol on site, which did not intervene in the rescue, according to SOS Mediterranee.
Also read: Hundreds of migrants rescued in Central Mediterranean
'Libya continues to terrorize migrants' says the party +Europa
This episode caught the attention of politicians, like the Secretary of the Italian pro-EU party +Europa, Riccardo Magi: "While Italy hosted, almost secretly, some soccer matches of the Libyan championship in stadiums in the region of Campania and Abruzzo, we learn that 120 people, rescued by Ocean Viking, threw themselves into the water during rescue operations because two unidentified dinghies caused panic among the migrants, who feared it was the Libyan Coast Guard and would rather throw themselves into the sea."
Magi concluded that the tragic scene indicated that the government had made a mistake by entrusting the defense of Italian borders to the Libyan Coast Guards. He found it shocking that Italy was willing to collaborate with the government of Tripoli, "which terrorizes human beings, by allowing itself to become a soccer field."
Also read: SOS Mediterranee launches petition to EU