The already tense situation in the coastal waters off Sicily became significantly more worrying this morning following reports that unidentified Libyans had attempted to hijack a Trapani-based fishing boat.
For that last week, Italy has struggled to cope with a huge increase in the arrival of boat people off its southern shores, with more than 12,000 people landing in recent days.
Media reports this morning claim that the Trapani based fishing boat, “Airone”, was last night confronted by a military style Libyan speed boat at around 3.30 am some 30 kilometres off the Libyan coast.
Two men from the Libyan boat then climbed onto the Airone, claiming that they had to carry out an inspection.
Details are still unclear but it appears that the fishermen became suspicious of the Libyans’ real intent, apprehending them and locking them into a cabin.
At this point, the fishing boat turned around, being able to outpace the Libyan vessel from which their two “prisoners” had alighted.
The fishermen also then made contact with an Italian military vessel which is currently accompanying them to the nearby Italian island of Lampedusa.
The suspicion must now be that the men who boarded the fishing boat were in fact traffickers, looking for another vessel with which to effect one of their many clandestine crossings of the Mediterranean.
Giovanni Tumbiolo, President of the Trapani-based fishing cooperative, Cosvap, told reporters:
“The crew were able to apprehend the armed men who had come on board, shutting them in a cabin... My information is that they (the fishing vessel Airone) have got away... But you have got to have sympathy for these frightened fishermen. People are very frightened, they are terrified of falling into the hands of totally unscrupulous people when they are out at sea...”
"I have immediately tried to contact the Libyan Minister of Agriculture and asked him to help out, given that we have a working relationship with Libya that has not been interrupted...We're very worried but at the same time we are comforted by the fact that relations between Sicilians and Libyans have always been very good..."
This latest incident is just one of many which has seen the traffickers adopt an increasingly aggressive attitude. Earlier this week, four heavily armed traffickers were able to “reclaim” a fishing boat they had used to transport migrants.
As the boat in question, already in some difficulty, was being rescued by the merchant ship, Asso 21, four traffickers arrived at high speed, firing shots in the air and intimating that they wanted their boat back.
Faced with kalashnikovs and with a boatload of men, women and children already embarked, the sailors on the Asso 21 opposed no resistance, allowing the traffickers to speed off with the small fishing boat.
Many of those who have landed in southern Italy have confirmed that the traffickers continue to charge exorbitant rates for their dangerous crossing, asking an average $1200 dollars for a place on one of their often highly unseaworthy boats.
More than 1000 people are believed to have perished in these clandestine crossings since the beginning of the year, as compared with just 17 in the same period last year.
The increased rate seems at least partly due to the fact that the Meditteranean is no longer patrolled by Italy’s Mare Nostrum search and rescue service but rather by the much smaller EU Frontex border control authority.