RESCUE organisations have defended migrants who temporarily commandeered a Libya-bound ship in the Mediterranean last night and forced the crew to head north towards Europe. 
 
The 120 people were  adrift at sea when they were rescued by Turkish oil tanker the El Hiblu 1, but after discovering its destination, the migrants took control of the ship – so far, it’s unclear how. 
 
Maltese armed forces seized the ship in the early hours this morning and restored control to its captain before rerouting it to Malta.  
 
Armed military personnel turned the migrants over to the police after it came into port later in the morning. 
 
Italy’s far-right Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini took the opportunity to once again slander migrants. 

“These are not migrants in distress, they are pirates. They will only see Italy through a telescope,”  he said on Italian media.
 
“Poor castaways, who hijack a merchant ship that saved them because they want to decide the route of the cruise.” 

Sea Watch International urged European Union leaders, who announced yesterday that they would no longer operate rescue missions in the Mediterranean, to show compassion to those desperately trying to reach Europe by sea. 

“The rescued people who took over a merchant vessel after they realised they were being pulled back to Libya were brought to Malta this morning,” the rescue organisation wrote on Twitter today. 

“We look to this with an eye of humanity, understanding this not as piracy but as self-defence against a deadly European border policy.”

Italy-based rescue charity Mediterranea said: “Imagine escaping from a concentration camp. During the escape, they catch you and want to bring you back. Would you rebel? 

“So they become the ‘pirates’ of the #Elhiblu1 to save themselves and their children. Imagine, then judge.”