Libyan authorities have seized three Egyptian fishing boats and 52 persons on board heading for Malta. All of the boat's crew, who come from the villages of Borg Megheizal and Metoubas, were arrested, according to Ahmed Nassar, head of the Borg Megheizal sailors' charity organization, who said the boats left four days ago for Malta.
One of the boats' owners, according to Nassar, “received a phone call Sunday midnight from a villager working in Benghazi, who told him that Libyan authorities detained all the boats although they were out of Libyan regional waters, 70 miles off Benghazi coast."
Libyan coast guards started shooting, claiming the boats had crossed into Libyan regional waters, according to the report.
Hamdi Hammouda, the sailors’ chief, called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to intervene to get the sailors released.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
