Europe

Libyan official: Migrants used metal tools to threaten crew

Associated Press
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Armed forces stand onboard the Turkish oil tanker El Hiblu 1, which was hijacked by migrants, in Valletta, Malta, Thursday March 28, 2019. A Maltese special operations team boarded a tanker Thursday that had been hijacked by migrants rescued at sea and recaptured control of it before escorting it to a Maltese port. Italy's hard-line interior minister slammed the migrants as pirates but aid groups rejected that label, saying the European Union's policy of sending migrants back to lawless Libya was to blame. (AP Photo/Rene' Rossignaud)

Armed forces stand onboard the Turkish oil tanker El Hiblu 1, which was hijacked by migrants, in Valletta, Malta, Thursday March 28, 2019. A Maltese special operations team on Thursday boarded a tanker that had been hijacked by migrants rescued at sea, and returned control to the captain, before escorting it to a Maltese port. (AP Photo/Rene' Rossignaud)

A Libyan official says the migrants who commandeered an oil tanker that had rescued them in the Mediterranean Sea used metal tools to threaten the crew, forcing them to direct the ship toward Europe.

Maltese armed forces stormed the vessel Thursday and detained five men suspected of leading the hijacking operation, taking them away in handcuffs. In all, 100 migrants were on the ship, including woman and many minors.

Brig. Gen. Ayoub Gassim, the Libyan coast guard spokesman, said Friday the El Hiblu 1 cargo ship rescued the migrants in the middle of the night.

He said Wednesday morning, "when the sun rose and the migrants realized that they are returning to Libya, some of them rebelled, and used workshop metal tools in threatening the crew to change the route and head north."