Libyan Coast Guard | Italy and Frontex confirm attack on refugees off Malta

Following a violent attack on a refugee boat in the central Mediterranean, Italian authorities rescued the occupants on Monday and reported three firearms injuries . The 140 people, who had arrived from Libya, were taken aboard the boat about 40 nautical miles off the Sicilian coast of Pozzallo. The first group, including the injured, was brought to Pozzallo by the coast guard. Around 70 more people followed on a boat from the Italian financial police.

According to the survivors, Libyan patrol boats opened fire and rammed their boat. One of the men was shot in the head and is in a coma. Another injured man was shot in the face, according to Italian authorities, and is in critical but stable condition. The third person suffered a gunshot wound to the leg. The injured were taken to hospitals in Sicily.

Alarm Phone was the first to draw attention to the attack on Sunday. The sea rescue initiative had several telephone contacts with the occupants, most recently on Monday afternoon. A team from Mediterranea Saving Humans was also in contact with the refugees. "They told us they were fleeing Libya. They were on board a boat that had been attacked with firearms by the Libyan coast guard in the past few hours," explained Beppe Caccia of Mediterranea. The incident is said to have occurred about 100 nautical miles southeast of Malta – and thus within the Maltese search and rescue zone. The Libyan coast guard is also said to have rammed the refugee boat.

The refugees also reported to Alarm Phone that a man had been killed by the gunfire. The Italian authorities initially did not confirm this information, but announced an investigation. Frontex also intends to participate: In response to a request from "nd," the EU border agency confirmed that one of its aircraft was present during the attack. "The crew spotted a fishing boat with around 140 people on board and later observed another unidentified vessel maneuvering dangerously nearby," Frontex said. The aircraft sent out a warning message on instructions from the Maltese rescue coordination center, "requesting the unidentified vessel to maintain a safe distance."

As is customary in such cases, Alarm Phone also informed the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Valletta about the incident, but no assistance from Malta was forthcoming. On Monday afternoon, the Maltese Armed Forces announced that they had launched aerial surveillance and dispatched a ship after learning of the incident. However, they had found "no visible disturbance" on board. The boat was therefore allowed to continue toward Italy – this repeatedly fatal practice has been criticized by maritime rescue organizations for years.

The escalation involving firearms was not an isolated incident. In August, a Libyan patrol boat opened fire on the rescue ship "Ocean Viking" for 20 minutes while it was sailing in international waters under the Norwegian flag. On board were 87 refugees who had recently been rescued. Although the crew remained unharmed, antennas, lifeboats, and windows on the ship's bridge were destroyed.

The Libyan ship used in the attack on the Ocean Viking was handed over to Libya by Italy in 2023 as part of an EU-funded program worth €59 million. The government in Rome has concluded a Memorandum of Understanding for this cooperation. If it is not terminated by November 2, 2025, it will automatically be extended for another three years.

That's why days of action against the new edition of the Italian-Libyan agreement begin in Rome on Wednesday. The memorandum, first signed between Italy and Libya in February 2017, is officially intended to "combat illegal migration." In fact, it has since resulted in more suffering, more deaths, and more crimes against humanity, according to the human rights organizations, sea rescue initiatives, and the self-organization Refugees in Libya. The alliance is calling for an immediate end to the cooperation, the evacuation of those trapped in Libya, and safe escape routes to Europe.

Also on the Bundestag's agenda on Wednesday is the extension of the EU military mission Irini in the Mediterranean. Unlike in 2022, the cabinet motion does not include an exclusion clause for the Bundeswehr to train the so-called Libyan coast guard.

One day before the Bundestag debate , the maritime rescue organization Sea-Watch announced that it would soon publish a report on extreme acts of violence committed by Libyan actors in the Mediterranean. The data collection is expected to contain 60 cases of Libyan militias' actions against refugees, as well as European civilian and state actors, at sea since 2016. These include targeted attacks, dangerous maneuvers and the pursuit of boats in distress, obstruction of rescue operations, threats to rescue workers, mistreatment of people in distress, and the deliberate abandonment of bodies at sea. At least 54 of the incidents occurred in international waters.

In 2024 alone, the International Organization for Migration recorded more than 21,700 people abducted from the Mediterranean to Libya, where they are subjected to systematic torture, slavery, and sexual violence – with the knowledge of the European Union. This practice is likely to continue: A delegation from eastern Libya is scheduled to visit Frontex headquarters in Warsaw this Tuesday. The border agency has so far only cooperated with the internationally recognized government in western Libya. The eastern Libyan delegation is expected to visit the EU Commission in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday.