Libya considering freeing all migrants, Italian coast guard saves 55 persons whilst others refused port of entry
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Libya is weighing freeing all migrants from detention centres after the massacre at Tajoura detention centre after an airstrike on Tuesday evening.
Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha said that Libyan authorities are considering this step because their safety can no longer be guaranteed.
The United Nations has called for an independent inquiry into the bombing of the Libyan migrant detention centre that left at least 44 dead and more than 130 severely injured, describing the attack as “a war crime and odious bloody carnage”.
The detention centre east of Tripoli was housing more than 610 people when it was hit by two airstrikes.
A general view of the destroyed detention center in Tripoli’s, Libya. EPA-EFE/STR
Libya’s UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Italian interior minister, Matteo Salvini, blamed the bombing on the air force of eastern Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, who launched an offensive on the Libyan capital months ago.
In the meantime, an Italian coast guard vessel has safely landed 55 migrants on the island of Lampdusa after rescuing them from nearby waters. However, Rome has also refused entry to a ship that rescued migrants in distress off Libya.
In response to news that another vessel — the Italian aid ship “Alex” — had rescued dozens of migrants on Thursday off the Libyan coast, Salvini insisted they should be taken to Tunisia.
“Otherwise we will activate all procedures to prevent Italy being a port of arrival for human traffickers,” Salvini tweeted.
The vessel, operated by the NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans group of left-wing activists, now faces a search for a port where refugees will be able to disembark.
The dangers of migrants making the journey across the Mediterranean were underlined on Thursday, with more than 80 people feared dead off the coast of Tunisia. The Tunisian coast guard said a vessel carrying the migrants appeared to have capsized.
The International Organization for Migration said that the boat had foundered near the city of Zarzis and that 82 of the migrants on board were missing. Four were rescued from the water, one of whom had died overnight.
The migrants were fleeing Libya, where an airstrike hit a migrant detention center a day earlier, killing 44 people and wounding 130.
