The Italian supply ship “Vos Thalassa” discovered 67 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. According to the Law of the Sea, one is obliged to rescue all human beings in danger, and so they were taken on board by the Italians.

However, when the captain explained to the rescued that they had to be taken back to Libya and handed over to the coast guard, some of the men began to threaten the 12-man crew: they would be killed if they were not taken to Italy. The captain alerted the Italian coastguard, who came to the aid with the patrol boat “Diciotti,” as Italy’s Minister of Infrastructure, Danilo Toninelli, said on Facebook. The Coast Guard then protected the life of the crew and took the migrants on board. “We save lives, but there can be no exceptions to the law.”, he said.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini emphasised that “If someone violates the law, then he will end up in jail, not in a reception centre.” The ringleaders of the mutiny are said to have been a Ghanaian and a Sudanese. Most of them came from Pakistan (27), Sudan (12) and Libya (10).