“Violate the indications” –

There are “official documents” that confirm the violations of the NGO Mare Jonio. Sources from the Interior Ministry made this known after the organisation’s accusations against the government. “Responding yesterday afternoon in the Senate to the urgent question presented by Senator Antonio Nicita, regarding the armed attack by the Libyan patrol boat 658 Fezzan, which occurred last 4 April in international waters, against shipwrecked people in the water and the rescuers of the Italian ship Mare Jonio , the minister Matteo Piantedosi lied to Parliament”, denounced by the NGO. “The owner of the Interior has in fact stated that our Mare Jonio intervened at a later time, approaching the Fezzan patrol boat when it had already fulfilled its rescue obligations at sea”, writes the NGO stating that it is “massively false” and publishing a video showing the approach to the boat. According to Mar Jonio, the Libyans intervened 20 minutes after the rescue began.

However, there are “official documents confirming how last April 4 the ship of the NGO Mare Jonio operated in violation of the indications provided by the Libyan marine rescue coordination centre, responsible for the area in which the event took place and which had sent its own patrol vessel to the scene to carry out rescue operations”, sources from the Ministry of the Interior specify to Adnkronos. The documents show that “the NGO ship repeatedly received instructions to move away from the area of ​​operations, refusing to carry them out”. “A dinghy from the NGO ship also approached the Libyan patrol boat which already had some previously rescued migrants on board, inciting them to throw themselves into the sea – underline the same sources – Many people threw themselves into the water: some of these were again rescued by the Libyan patrol vessel, others were collected by the NGO’s dinghy which then transported them to the Mare Jonio ship”.

Not only. “This situation meant that even the migrants who were on the rescue vessel, in seriously precarious conditions, then threw themselves into the sea – explain sources from the Interior Ministry – The behavior carried out by the NGO, in addition to interfering with the rescue operations, has created a situation of very serious danger to the lives of the migrants who threw themselves into the sea to reach the NGO’s dinghy.”