The Libyan Coast Guard authority confirmed that an Italian fishing vessel had been seized and searched after entering the protected fishing area 30 nautical miles north of the city of Khums.
The authority explained that on Thursday, a boat belonging to it pursued the ship, based on information that 4 Italian fishing vessels were heading to the aforementioned area, where the chase continued for 3 hours with warning shots fired in the air.
The authority indicated that one of the members of the Italian ship was injured; As a result of colliding with the ship’s windows while chasing the coast guard boat, and not with a bullet, as stated by the ship’s captain.
The authority added that it issued instructions to release the ship and its crew after taking a pledge from them not to fish in the area and respecting the sovereignty of the Libyan state.
It is worth noting that what is meant by the territorial waters of the countries is the area over which the states have sovereignty, with a distance of 12 nautical miles, 22.2 km from the coast, according to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
