A vessel bearing the Libyan flag fired at a boat carrying 110 people in the Mediterranean on Friday afternoon, according to NGO Alarm Phone.
The attack happened in Malta's search and rescue (SAR) zone west of Greek island Crete, the NGO said, warning that the lives of those on board were in danger.
"A group alerted Alarm Phone to report that they are threatened by gunfire from an unknown small vessel carrying the Libyan flag," the organisation said in an X (formerly Twitter) post.
The boat carrying the 110 people had departed from Lebanon's border region close to Syria, a spokesperson for Alarm Phone said on Friday afternoon.
"There are apparently around 40 children on board... they left from Lebanon trying to reach Italy," he said.
"They also report they were shot at by a Libyan vessel. Apparently, one person is also injured due to that," the spokesperson said, adding the boat had reportedly repeatedly called for help without success.
Alarm Phone was in contact with the boat and had alerted authorities, he said.
It later said the boat reported being followed by the Libyan vessel was attempting to reach Greece. The Greek authorities had been informed, the NGO said.
Times of Malta is not in a position to verify the claims.
This is not the first time NGOs have reported incidents of gunfire in proximity to suspected migrants.
In March, rescue NGOs published footage of Libyan coastguards shooting in the direction of a boat carrying some 80 people, moments after firing warning shots close to a rescue ship in international waters.
According to SOS Mediterranee, a vessel belonging to the Libyan coastguard threatened the crew of Ocean Viking with firearms after the NGO rescue ship was alerted - by emergency hotline Alarm Phone - about a boat in distress off Libya.
The rescue ship was on its way to a rubber dinghy with some 80 people aboard when it was "dangerously" approached by Libyan coastguard patrol vessel 656, according to the NGO.
All attempts by the bridge’s team to contact the Libyan vessel via VHF (very high frequency) went unanswered while the crew of the patrol vessel started firing gunshots in the air, it said.
Meanwhile, in 2021, the Libyan navy launched an inquiry after footage emerged showing one of its coastguard vessels opening fire in the direction of a small wooden boat carrying migrants.
The footage was captured by an aircraft belonging to NGO Sea-Watch International, which said the incident occurred in Malta's search and rescue zone.
Since the start of the year over 130,000 people have arrived in Europe via sea, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. While almost 100,000 were recorded arriving in Italy and 15,000 in Greece, Malta has seen just 231 arrivals.
Malta has repeatedly been accused by NGOs of not rendering assistance to vessels suspected to be carrying migrants in its search and rescue zone and of coordinating "pushbacks" to Libya with authorities in the country.
Questions were sent to AFM (Armed Forces Malta) and the Home Affairs Ministry on Friday.