(ANSA) - Lampedusa, September 13 - An Italian trawler was
fired on by a Libyan motor launch off the coast of Libya Sunday
in the latest incident in disputed waters.
A few rounds of gunfire strafed the side of the Ariete
trawler, hit the cabin and punctured a dinghy but none of the
ten-man crew was hurt, sailors said after their safe return.
The Ariete, out of the northwestern Sicilian port of Mazara
del Vallo, was reportedly told to stop but ignored the order and
headed for home, sparking the burst of fire.
The incident took place in the Gulf of Sirte about 30 nautical miles off Libya, Ariete Captain Gaspare Marrone said when he got back to this island halfway between Sicily and north Africa. Italy considers these waters international, according to several treaties, but Tripoli insists they are theirs and regularly repels or warns off vessels that stray into them. Incidents like Sunday's are fairly frequent although it is rare for a Libyan vessel to open fire. In June Libya sequestered three boats from the Mazara fleet and Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, a friend of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, personally intervened to get them back. The Ariete crew said they had had "a close call". "We're alive thanks to a miracle," crew member Alessandro Novara told ANSA. "They fired like crazy and knocked some holes in us; it was lucky they didn't blow up any gas tanks," he said, pointing to a ricochet mark on one of the tanks. Drawing his hand over the holes in the cabin, Novara noted that the Libyans "fired at head height". The Italian Coast Guard opened an investigation into the incident, saying it would look at the trawler's GPS device to see where it was when it fired on.
Lampedusa Port Commander Antonio Morana quizzed Captain Marrone on Monday morning and said "we will be examining the blue box", the maritime equivalent of a black box. In the past, Marrone has saved scores of becalmed or weather-threatened migrants in the Sicilian Channel and has obtained official recognition for his contribution to Italy's rescue efforts, often in stormy conditions. "The laws of the sea say you should help anyone in trouble, even risking our own lives," Marrone said after saving 27 migrants in 2008. In June 2008 Marrone and his crew received an award handed out by the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR to those who "show courage in saving human lives". Sunday's incident became a political issue on Monday with the centre-left opposition calling on the government to report to parliament because of a hostile act by a nation with which Italy has a 2008 Friendship Treaty enabling migrants to be turned back. "I suppose this is Gaddafi's way of saying thanks" said one opposition member, Benedetto Adragna of the centre-left Democratic Party, referring to the red carpet rolled out for the Libyan leader and a blind eye turned to his Koran-wielding proselytising of hundreds of hired hostesses on his recent visit to Rome marking the Treaty's second anniversary. "Gaddafi comes to Rome and is received like an emperor by Berlusconi, and as a way of saying thank you the Sicilian fishermen are machine-gunned in international waters by his motor launches," Adragna said. "The government should put aside its realpolitik and condemn this violent and intimidatory act, devoid of all justification in international law, as soon as possible," the PD Senator said. According to international maritime law, territorial waters extend up to 12 miles from shore but in certain circumstances they can cover a "contiguous" area of 24 nautical miles. International norms also stipulate areas which can be commercially exploited up to 200 miles from the coast, but only after international recognition.
The incident took place in the Gulf of Sirte about 30 nautical miles off Libya, Ariete Captain Gaspare Marrone said when he got back to this island halfway between Sicily and north Africa. Italy considers these waters international, according to several treaties, but Tripoli insists they are theirs and regularly repels or warns off vessels that stray into them. Incidents like Sunday's are fairly frequent although it is rare for a Libyan vessel to open fire. In June Libya sequestered three boats from the Mazara fleet and Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, a friend of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, personally intervened to get them back. The Ariete crew said they had had "a close call". "We're alive thanks to a miracle," crew member Alessandro Novara told ANSA. "They fired like crazy and knocked some holes in us; it was lucky they didn't blow up any gas tanks," he said, pointing to a ricochet mark on one of the tanks. Drawing his hand over the holes in the cabin, Novara noted that the Libyans "fired at head height". The Italian Coast Guard opened an investigation into the incident, saying it would look at the trawler's GPS device to see where it was when it fired on.
Lampedusa Port Commander Antonio Morana quizzed Captain Marrone on Monday morning and said "we will be examining the blue box", the maritime equivalent of a black box. In the past, Marrone has saved scores of becalmed or weather-threatened migrants in the Sicilian Channel and has obtained official recognition for his contribution to Italy's rescue efforts, often in stormy conditions. "The laws of the sea say you should help anyone in trouble, even risking our own lives," Marrone said after saving 27 migrants in 2008. In June 2008 Marrone and his crew received an award handed out by the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR to those who "show courage in saving human lives". Sunday's incident became a political issue on Monday with the centre-left opposition calling on the government to report to parliament because of a hostile act by a nation with which Italy has a 2008 Friendship Treaty enabling migrants to be turned back. "I suppose this is Gaddafi's way of saying thanks" said one opposition member, Benedetto Adragna of the centre-left Democratic Party, referring to the red carpet rolled out for the Libyan leader and a blind eye turned to his Koran-wielding proselytising of hundreds of hired hostesses on his recent visit to Rome marking the Treaty's second anniversary. "Gaddafi comes to Rome and is received like an emperor by Berlusconi, and as a way of saying thank you the Sicilian fishermen are machine-gunned in international waters by his motor launches," Adragna said. "The government should put aside its realpolitik and condemn this violent and intimidatory act, devoid of all justification in international law, as soon as possible," the PD Senator said. According to international maritime law, territorial waters extend up to 12 miles from shore but in certain circumstances they can cover a "contiguous" area of 24 nautical miles. International norms also stipulate areas which can be commercially exploited up to 200 miles from the coast, but only after international recognition.
