Migrants feared for their lives' as Libyan gunmen fired on rescue ship

"The shots were fired by armed men on a Libyan coastguard patrol boat in waters north of the North African country's coast at 11am on May 11. First, a single shot was fired, followed by a burst of approximately 10 to 15 further shots without any warning, according to Sea-Watch, which said the crew and rescued survivors feared for their lives."

"The crew on board said the coastguard then attempted to seize the German-flagged rescue vessel and force it towards Libya. Nobody expects to rescue people and then get shot at. I could see the boat extremely close; it was too close, said Elzanaty."

"As she was the only Arabic speaker on board, Elzanaty negotiated with the attackers. Even when we were talking, it wasn't in a decent way, she said. There was no warning. The shots were fired first, and then we started talking."

"In a video shot by a crew member after the boat came under fire, a man can be heard repeatedly saying, stop, or we will shoot over the ship's radio. They started telling us to go to Tripoli, said Elzanaty. When we refused, they threatened to board the vessel. She told them that the rescuers were unarmed and peaceful, but it didn't matter to them."

Shots were fired by armed men on a Libyan coastguard patrol boat in waters north of Libya at 11am on May 11. A single shot was followed by a burst of about 10 to 15 additional shots without warning. The crew reported that they feared for their lives and that the coastguard attempted to seize the German-flagged rescue vessel and force it toward Libya. Thirty crew members from multiple countries were on board along with 90 rescued people. Yasmin Ibrahim Elzanaty, an Arabic-speaking cultural mediator, negotiated with the attackers after shots were fired. The attackers demanded the ship go to Tripoli, threatened boarding when the crew refused, and ignored claims that the rescuers were unarmed and peaceful.

Read at www.aljazeera.com