The
"Aliseo"
fishing boat
of the Mazara del Vallo fleet
, which was engaged with two other boats in a drive off the coast of Benghazi, was strafed by a Libyan military patrol boat.
The gunshots wounded the commander,
Giuseppe Giacalone
.
His son Alessandro confirmed this to ANSA, adding that at the moment he does not know his father's conditions.
The Libyan Navy, which controls the Coast Guard,
has denied having fired "at" Italian fishing boats
but admitted that "warning shots in the air" were fired to stop fishing boats that it said had trespassed into Libyan territorial waters. "There were no shots fired against boats, but warning shots in the air," Commodore Masoud Ibrahim Abdelsamad, spokesman for the Libyan Navy, told ANSA over the phone, without providing further details on the incident for the moment.
"When the fishing boats arrive, our coast guard tries to stop them",
the spokesman added, promising more details and insisting that "there were no direct shots at the boat". "There were four or five fishing boats in Libyan territorial waters without any permission from the Libyan government", the spokesman said: "Our Coast Guard, among its functions, has that of fisheries control", he recalled.
There were 3 Italian fishing boats that were in an area defined as "high risk"
towards which a Libyan patrol boat fired some warning shots that injured the captain of one of the three boats. It is reconstructed by the Navy which is still operating in the area - 35 miles north of the coast of Al Khums - and which intervened with the
Libeccio frigate
. Defense Minister
Lorenzo Guerini
is constantly updated on developments in the situation.
The "Aliseo" fishing boat has been released.
This was confirmed by Alessandro Giacalone, owner of the vehicle and son of Giuseppe, the commander who was slightly injured. The young man was confirmed by a phone call with a satellite cell phone received by his brother Giacomo, currently on board the Anna Madre, the other fishing boat of the company, which is also on a fishing trip. The trade wind is already sailing towards the Sicilian coasts.
The medicated commander on board
- "The fishing boat has reversed its course and is heading towards Mazara del Vallo". Alessandro Giacalone of the shipping company "Pescanuova srl", and the son of Commander Giuseppe, who was injured, confirmed this to ANSA. There are seven crew members on board, together with the Commander himself: "I have news that the Italian soldiers are on board who are medicating him".
