“Pirates” on a cargo ship in the Mediterranean force the intervention of Italian commandos

MISE À DAY

“Pirates”, possibly migrants, tried on Friday to hijack a Turkish ship heading for France off Naples, prompting the intervention of Italian special forces, the Italian Ministry of Defense said .

“An operation is underway on a ship aboard which pirates have boarded (…). The illegal immigrants used weapons, such as daggers” to threaten the crew, Minister Guido Crosetto told the press.

The situation remained confused at the start of the evening, but a government source told AFP reported that Italian special forces had regained control of the situation.

The ship is a Turkish-flagged ro-ro ship, the Galata Seaways, which left Topcular in Turkey on June 7 bound for Sète, in the south of France, where it was due to arrive on Saturday with 22 crew members, according to Italian media.

Off Naples (south), an unknown number of armed men threatened and “captured the crew in the command cabin. The freighter then “significantly deviated from its trajectory”, underlines the Ansa agency.

The helicopter-borne special forces of the Navy invested the ship and arrested some assailants, but the inspection of the boat ended. continued to find possible accomplices.