Maltese naval forces were forced to take control of a tanker ship in the Mediterranean on Wednesday after migrants that it had rescued from the sea hijacked the vessel.
Threatening migrants who had been rescued from drowning by the vessel seized control of the ship and were forcing the captain to take them to Malta or Italy rather than back to Libya as planned.
A Maltese government statement said, “AFM Patrol Vessel P21 stopped the tanker from entering the Maltese territorial waters.”
A special operations unit boarded the ship and retook control, fortunately without having to harm the hijackers and the crew were also uninjured.
The ship was docked in Malta where the migrant pirates were detained by police.
Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, said he would not permit the “criminals” to come to his country.
The NGO ‘Sea Watch’ lashed out at Deputy PM Salvini’s comments regarding the 108 migrants.
The EU has also announced it will end its migrant rescue patrols in the Mediterranean.
What are your thoughts on this? Tell us in the comments section on Facebook.
