Ship hijacked near Libya rescued

Migrants hijacked a cargo ship in Libyan waters yesterday and forced the crew to redirect the vessel north to Europe, according to Italian and Maltese authorities. As the vessel headed in a direction leading to the island nation of Malta and Italy’s shores, both countries vowed to keep the hijacked ship out of their territorial waters.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini identified the ship as the Turkish oil tanker El Hiblu 1 and said the crew had earlier rescued migrants in the Mediterranean Sea.

He put the number of migrants on board at around 120 and described what was happening as “the first act of piracy on the high seas with migrants that hijacked” a cargo ship.