Rescued migrants on board container ship in Misrata refuse to disembark

The Libyan coast guard reported Wednesday that migrant passengers aboard a container ship docked at the port of Misrata are refusing to disembark.

The migrants, who are from Eritrea, Somalia, Bangladesh and Sudan, were rescued last week when their vessel began sinking en route to Italy. The vessel was too far from Libya for the coast guard to rescue, so authorities asked a container ship sailing in the opposite direction to pick them up.

That ship has now docked at its intended destination but officials say: “When we asked the migrants to get off the ship, they refused and demanded it take them to Italy.”

DW reports that a 19-year-old Sudanese migrant from Darfur said: “I was stopped by this ship and thought I would be sent to Malta or Italy. I prefer to die but not to be returned to Libya … it’s a prison.”

Some of those on board were indeed willing to get off the ship but had been prevented from doing so by others. Coast guard officials say that they are currently in the process of getting those who want to leave off of the ship. So far, 14 people have disembarked. There are a number of women and children among the passengers.