Libya's
coastguard has detained more than 400 immigrants, mostly from the Horn of
Africa, in its waters in the past two days as they tried to illegally cross to
Europe in small boats, Libyan officials said on Thursday.
The coastguard
picked up five boatloads of people. Warning shots were fired at several
vessels, and 78 people were rescued from a sinking ship, said navy spokesman
Qassem Ayoub.
Most of those
taken into custody came from Somalia and Eritrea, and a handful were from Ghana
and Nigeria. Some are held at a Tripoli police station and are being examined
by a United Nations medical team, said the deputy commander of naval
operations, Mohammed al Baty.
More than 400
people were detained in all, Ayoub said. "We noticed that the boats that
had been caught contain sequential numbers, and so we expect that there are
some boats that have been able to sneak to the other side of the Mediterranean
Sea," he added.
Read More
