Libyan naval attack on charity ship adds new danger to migrant rescue | World news

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  • Libyan naval attack on charity ship adds new danger to migrant rescue | World news | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/03/libyan-naval-attack-on-charity-ship-adds-new-danger-to-migrant-rescue

    However, the seas are becoming as dangerous for the rescuers as the rescued, with the Libyan navy admitting last week that it staged an attack that saw the rescue boat Bourbon Argos, of #Médecins_Sans_Frontières (#MSF) raked with gunfire. When gunmen opened fire on the ship, on the morning of 17 August, the crew hid in a safe room, thinking the attackers would seize them or sink the boat from under them.

    The people on the Bourbon Argos were really scared. They thought they would be kidnapped,” says Eugenio Cusumano, of Leiden University in the Netherlands, who is doing research on migrant rescues. “They did shoot at the decks; they could have killed people.

    The Libyan navy said that it intercepted the boat when checking for illegal petrol smuggling, and insists that any bullet strikes (MSF say 13 hit the bridge and wheelhouse) were accidental. The charity condemned the attack, saying: “This was a serious and worrying attack, with shooting towards our boat which could have put our staff in acute physical danger.