Up to 25 people were missing, feared drowned, on Friday after men on a libyan coastguard speedboat attacked a packed migrant dinghy during a rescue operation off the north African State.
German NGO Sea-Watch, which is taking part in the multinational search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean, said the tragedy happened after its boat Sea-Watch 2 and a passing oil tanker were sent to help the distressed dinghy in the early hours.
As the rescue operation proceeded just beyond libyan territorial waters north of the port of Sabrata, a speedboat bearing the libyan coastguard insignia arrived and tried to steal the dinghy's outboard engine, spokesman Ruben Neugebauer told AFP. The men, who spoke Arabic, beat some of the migrants with sticks and some clambered onto the dinghy, causing panic which resulted in one side of the boat deflating and most of the passengers ending up in the sea.