Libyan Navy briefing on deadly rescue incident

(14 Nov 2017) Libyan Navy general staff blamed the German non-governmental organisation Sea Watch on Tuesday for the deaths of five African migrants during a rescue operation off the Libyan coast last week. The five migrants, including a child, died as a German nonprofit organization and the Libyan coast guard tried to rescue them from their foundering boat in the Mediterranean, with each side blaming the other for botching the operation. Germany's Sea-Watch has said its rescue ship was helping migrants on the sinking inflatable boat in international waters off the Libyan coast on Monday morning when a Libyan coast guard boat also began to simultaneously take migrants onboard. Sea-Watch said the Libyan coast guard caused panic by "beating and threatening" the passengers, before driving off at high speed with people clinging to the side. The organization said in a statement it had successfully rescued 58 people. Libya blamed Sea-Watch for the fatalities, saying they interrupted the coast guard's rescue work "despite our appeals." About 140 people were on board the rubber boat, and 45 migrants were rescued and taken to the port of Tripoli according to Libyan officials. Survivors transferred to Tripoli carry the nationalities of several West African countries, including Nigeria and Senegal. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/ac57b19e3c5f68df361e7e95bca9d19c Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork