A seven-hour military operation that was conducted by Italian special forces to tackle suspected hijackers on board a cargo ship sailing from Turkiye to France is over, the Defense Minister of Italy stated on Saturday.
The Galata Seaways vessel sailing under a Turkish flag "has now been recaptured and the entire 22-man crew of the Turkish ship is safe," the ministry said, amid reports that some hijackers had been detained, while others "barricaded themselves in the depths of the hold" of the 200-meter-long ship.
A Twitter screenshot of Italian special forces tackling alleged hijackers on board a Turkish cargo ship
© Photo : Twitter/@metesohtaoglu
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, for his part, told reporters that the San Marco special forces battalion had to intervene after the 15 attackers, who allegedly earlier sneaked into the vessel undetected, were seen using "what seem to be weapons like daggers" to threaten the crew.
“What is known about the hijackers is that they are illegal immigrants,” Guido added. He earlier referred to the attackers as “pirates”.
This came after an Italian news agency reported that once onboard, the stowaways were discovered by the crew using security cameras and that they then tried to take some of the sailors hostage inside the bridge using knives.
The captain of the bulker managed to send an urgent request to Ankara, which in turn reported the incident to Rome as the ship was navigating off the Italian coast.
After the Galata Seaways was recaptured, the cargo ship was escorted towards Naples and anchored outside the port, amid a heavy police presence.
So far this year, over 98% of the asylum seekers have arrived by sea; the remaining 2% arrived by land. An estimated 522 migrants have died or gone missing en route, according to the UNHCR.
Between 2015 and 2016, the arrival of more than one million refugees on Europe’s shores resulted in a massive migration crisis.