42 people 'forcibly returned to Libya from Malta's rescue zone' - Alarmphone
The migrants were picked up by Libyan boats after their own boat ran out of fuel while crossing to Europe
Forty-two people were “forcibly returned” to Libya on two Libyan militia vessels after their boat broke down while crossing from Libya to Europe in Malta’s search and rescue (SAR) zone, according to two rescue NGOs.
NGO Alarmphone said on Tuesday afternoon it had received a distress call from 42 people on board a boat in Malta’s search and rescue region. It said the passengers had no drinking water left and had run out of fuel.
Shortly after, rescue NGO Sea-Watch International said its plane had spotted people overboard and two “notorious” Libyan militia vessels in the area.
Referencing its findings, Alarmphone said in a post on X: “Have the Maltese authorities once again endangered lives and orchestrated an illegal pullback operation?”
Around three hours after reporting the original distress call, Alarmphone said those onboard had been “forcibly returned” to Libya. “We do not know at this moment whether everyone survived. We condemn this ongoing cruelty at sea”.
The two Libyan vessels named by Sea-Watch International were the Ras Jadir and the Houn.
In August last year, the Houn was involved in an alleged gun attack on the Ocean Viking, a rescue vessel operated by the NGO.
The Libyan patrol boat is alleged to have opened fire on the Ocean Viking in a bid to divert it away from a rescue operation being coordinated with Italian authorities. The matter was later raised in the European Parliament (EP).
This latest incident comes at a time of increased focus on irregular migration to Europe.
The European Parliament last week approved a new law aimed at speeding up the return of irregular migrants from third countries, allowing home searches and countries to set up deportation centres outside the EU.
The vote – a markedly chaotic session in the chamber, that saw rival lawmakers at odds with chants of “send them back” and “shame on you” – sparked a racism row pulling in EP president Roberta Metsola, who has been called on to investigate two MEPs for comments made after the session.
A Times of Malta analysis of data provided by the Malta Migration Archive, which tracks distress calls from migrant boats crossing the Mediterranean, shows Libyan militia vessels becoming increasingly bold over the years, with interceptions rising steadily between 2020 and 2024 while AFM rescues declined.
Last month, the archive said in a statement that of the 565 distress cases last year, covering 23,500 people, Malta’s armed forces responded to only three, equivalent to less than one per cent.
A secretive migration coordination centre in Libya was inaugurated by Prime Minister Robert Abela in 2020. A cooperation agreement between Malta and Libya was renewed four years later.
Yesterday, the government announced that a Libyan coastguard patrol boat had been repaired in Malta and returned to Libya.
Questions were sent to AFM.