The German civil rescue boat "Alan Kurdi" has been threatened by at least three boats of the Libyan Coast Guard on Saturday off the Libyan coast, according to a spokesman, when it came to the aid of a refugee boat in distress.
"The crew of the Libyan Coast Guard fired warning shots into the water and into the air, which was a complete shock to our crew, it posed a mortal danger," Gorden Isler told SPIEGEL. Isler is spokesman for Sea-Eye, the organization operates the ship.
According to Isler, his crew had first received an emergency call. Accordingly, a white refugee boat with about 90 people on board got into distress. According to Isler, "Alan Kurdi" has reached the boat and has already taken ten migrants on board when at least three Libyan Coast Guard boats circled the "Alan Kurdi" and obstructed the rescue.
Afterwards people jumped into the water from the refugee boat to reach the "Alan Kurdi". The Libyan Coast Guard had partly taken refugees on board, but they had jumped back into the water. Some refugees were also advised in the action between "Alan Kurdi" and refugee boat, the situation was very dangerous, said Isler.
A woman should be hurt
The men on the Libyan boats had then fired warning shots into the air and into the water, their machine guns aimed at the refugees in the water. "Apparently they wanted to prevent us from saving the refugees," said Isler. Finally, the Libyan boats but had turned off.
"We probably have all the refugees on board," says Isler. "A woman who is on board with us, however, has severe abdominal bleeding, we are afraid that she is pregnant and has lost her child." Other injured people were previously unknown. The "Alan Kurdi" now head north.
Images provided by Sea Eye to SPIEGEL show the situation. One can see a white boat sailing under the Libyan flag, a man standing on the gun, only a few meters away is the white refugee boat and the "Alan Kurdi" and the organization's two smaller lifeboats.
According to the crew of the "Alan #Kurdi", members of the Libyan Coast Guard have today issued warning shots and disabled the rescue of about 90 refugees. A woman aboard Alan Kurdi should have severe abdominal bleeding. Here are the photos of Sea Eye / Zoe Hansen pic.twitter.com/ud3lEiyQ8B
- Steffen Lüdke (@stluedke) October 26, 2019In another picture at least ten people are recognizable swimming in the water and obviously wearing life jackets. Apparently, the pilot of the reconnaissance aircraft "Moonbird", which is operated by the Sea-Watch Association, has observed the situation.
Fortunately, all about 90 people could now be rescued by the dinghy on the #AlanKurdi. The militia had fired into the air and into the water in the direction of the boats, an extremely dangerous situation for the crew and fugitives. Meanwhile, they have withdrawn. pic.twitter.com/o8GEyi1jkI
- Sea-Watch (@seawatchcrew) October 26, 2019The European Union has blamed Isler severely: "It was very dangerous for us today, and the fact that these people are capable of threatening us in this way has something to do with the fact that our home countries first enabled the Libyan coastguard. " The EU is assisting the Libyan Coast Guard to bring migrants back to civil war via the Mediterranean to Europe.
The "Alan Kurdi" had not been in Libyan territorial waters, said Isler. Already in the past there had been conflicts between civilian sea rescue organizations and the Libyan Coast Guard.
When the Libyan Coast Guard rescues refugees from distress, the men and women are usually taken to Libyan refugee camps after landing. Some of the camps are controlled by militias. The Federal Foreign Office once compared some of these camps with "concentration camps". There, refugees are sometimes tortured, sold, raped or killed.
