To reach Europe, migrants have diverted the ship that had rescued them from the water

A special operations team from Malta intercepted a oil tanker kidnapped by rescued migrants at sea and returned control of the vessel to its captain.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said the cargo ship was seized by a group of about 120 people after being rescued and described the incident as "the first one. act of piracy on the high seas with migrants. "

For their part, the Maltese authorities explained that the group that hijacked the Turkish tanker El Hiblu 1 forced the crew to change course and head north, to Europe, instead of Libya.

The boat was headed for the island of Lampedusa, in southern Italy, and to the island of Malta when the Maltese authorities They intercepted it.

The Maltese Armed Forces established communications with the master while the vessel was still 30 nautical miles from the coast. The captain told them that he was not in control of the ship. A patrol prevented that the tanker entered Maltese waters.

Protection orders for migrants

According to humanitarian organizations, migrants are mistreated and even tortured in Libya. In fact, several demonstrations took place against the protocol aimed at returning the people rescued at sea in the chaotic nation of North Africa.

On the other hand, Italy and Malta they refuse to open their ports to the boats NGOs that collect migrants at sea. This situation has so far generated numerous clashes between European governments for who should take charge of them.

Mediterranea, a private organization that operates a rescue boat and monitors the treatment offered by governments to migrants, called for compbadion for the group that hijacked the vessel and hoped that European nations would act "In the name of fundamental rights". "We hope that they act by remembering that we are dealing with human beings fleeing hell," they said.

Mbadive migrations to Europe have been drastically reduced since 2015, when the continent hosted a million refugees from countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The wave of arrivals he generated a humanitarian crisis with frequent shipwrecks and major points of arrival, such as Italy and Greece, with problems to accommodate the large number of asylum seekers.