The Italian Coast Guard denied on Sunday having asked a merchant ship, which rescued 30 migrants, to bring them back to the North African country, according to news platform Swissinfo. The Italian Coast Guard said “it has not given instructions, or rather orders, to the command of the ship GRIMSTAD to head, after having carried out the rescue of the migrants, towards the Libyan coast”. Thus, the Italian Coast Guard said the merchant ship GRIMSTAD, with the Bahamas flag, handed the migrants over to the Libyan authorities in waters off the port city of Zueitina. Sea Watch made its accusation against Rome after assisting in the interception at sea from their Seabird surveillance aircraft, with which they operate in the central Mediterranean. To this, the command of the GRIMSTAD responded that they had instructions from the Operational Center of the Italian Coast Guard, although part of the recording is unintelligible.
