Location: international waters
Date of incident: 1 December 2025
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard, patrol boat TS-300
Summary: The so-called Libyan coastguard patrol boat shot in the water, 200-300 metres away from the NGO ship Louise Michel. Shortly after, the crew found an empty rubber boat – it must be assumed that the people were pulled back to Libya.

Location: international waters, Libyan SAR zone
Date of the incident: 26 October 2026
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard
Summary: Sea-Watch’s aircraft Seabird 3 sighted persons in distress in the Libyan SAR zone and informed the authorities and NGOs available to assist. Frontex’s aircraft Eagle4 was orbiting on-scene as well and sent out a mayday relay. The so-called Libyan Coastguard responded and then told the NGO ship Solidaire, which was already proceeding to the boat in distress, to head away (“turn 000”). The NGO maintained that they were better equipped to rescue, attempted to reach out to Frontex – which did not respond. The so-called Libyan coastguard continued to head to the persons in distress: in the end, the around 40 persons were intercepted and pulled back to Libya.

Location: international waters, Maltese SAR zone
Date of the incident: 12 October 2025
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard
Summary: According to testimonies reported to the civilian hotline Alarm Phone, a Tariq Ben Zeyad’s ship shot at persons in distress in the Maltese SAR zone. The persons were fleeing on a fishing boat carrying 140 persons from Libya. One person was shot in the head and was in coma. Another is wounded in the face and was brought to the hospital in Modica. A third person was shot in the leg. One person was reported dead, three injured. They all disembarked in Italy – the three wounded were rescued by the Italian Coast Guard, while the other survivors were rescued by the Guardia di Finanza.

Location: international waters, Libyan search and rescue (SAR) zone
Date of the incident: 28 September 2025
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan Coast Guard
patrol boat TS-LCG-300
Summary: The so-called Libyan Coast Guard was on-scene a boat
in distress, at risk of capsizing due to weather conditions. Instead of
retrieving persons in the water, as urged by the civil aircraft Sea-
bird 2, they chased the boat in distress. Meanwhile, several persons
were recovered onboard the merchant vessel Maridive 704. Facing
difficulties with the transshipment, the so-called Libyan coastguard
eventually intercepted survivors and pulled them back to Libya. At
least one person drowned.

Location: international waters, Libyan SAR zone
Date of the incident: 23 September 2025
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard, Corrubia Class patrol boat
Summary: The civilian aircraft Seabird 2 observed the so-called Libyan coastguard alongside a deflated rubber boat in the Libyan SAR zone. One person was in the water being retrieved, while several others were already on the deck of the patrol boat, potentially following the interception. Seabird 2 documented one person handcuffed and lying face-down at the front of the patrol boat. The persons were brought back to Libya.

Location: international waters
Date of incident: 13 September 2025
Alleged perpetrators: so-called Libyan coastguard
Summary: On September 13, the crew of the NGO ship Louise Michel spotted a boat in distress and, as they were preparing to rescue it, a boat without navigation lights—which later identified itself by radio as the “Libyan coast guard”—approached the bow of the NGO ship dangerously, circling it for half an hour. The so-called Libyan coastguard insisted that the Louise Michel leave the area, so the NGO ship turned north and was forced to abandon its search for the boat in distress. 

Location: International waters, Libyan search and rescue (SAR) zone, 40nm north of Libya
Date of the incident: 24 August 2025
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan Coast Guard
Summary: While the NGO ship Ocean Viking was engaged in
searching for a boat in distress, as authorized by the Italian author-
ities, it was approached by a so-called Libyan Coast Guard patrol
boat, which told the ship to leave the area. Then, without warning,
two men from the Libyan vessel opened fire on the ship, circling
around the ship and targeting people on board the NGO vessel. This
lasted for at least 20 minutes. The NGO ship had 87 survivors on
board from previous rescues. The attack caused bullet holes at head
height, the destruction of multiple antennas, four broken windows on
the Bridge, and several bullets struck and damaged the three RHIBS
(fast rescue boats), along with other rescue equipment.

Location: international waters
Date of incident: 21 August 2025
Alleged perpetrators: unknown Libyan militiamen
Summary: In the early hours of 21 August 2025, not far from the NGO ship Mediterranea, ten people were violently thrown into the sea from a boat belonging to Libyan militias. The NGO crew rescued the ten people who, with waves over 1.5 meters high, would have risked drowning. 

Location: international waters
**Date of incident: **18 August 2025
Alleged perpetrators: Libyan militiamen
Summary: On 18 August, the NGO ship Mediterranea was surrounded, threatened, and intimidated by a total of eight unidentified boats belonging to Libyan militias, with armed men on board. These boats approached the NGO ship dangerously close and insulted the crew, ordering them to leave “Libya,” even though the ship was in international waters. On 16 September 2025, the NGO filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor's Office in Trapani where, thanks to photographic material and information gathered by the crew, the NGO was able to reconstruct that a person on board the boats involved in this incident had a logo on their jacket that could be traced back to a brigade of the Libyan Government of National Unity. 

Location: international waters, Libyan SAR zone
Date of the incident: 18 April 2025
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard
Summary: As documented by the civil monitoring aircraft Seabird 3, during the rescue operation of a rubber boat with 38 people on board, the crew of the NGO vessel Solidaire was shouted at by the so-called Libyan coastguard via radio communication, which mistakenly demanded the Sea-Watch 5 to leave the area. Nevertheless, Solidaire was able to conduct the rescue of all 38 persons and to bring them safely to Italy.

Location: international waters
Date of the incident: 12 April 2025
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard patrol boat 648 Ras Jadir
Summary: While the NGO vessel Aita Mari was searching for a distress case in its close proximity, the so-called Libyan coastguard - aboard patrol boat 648 Ras Jadir, donated by Italy in May 2017 - approached the NGO vessel. According to Aita Mari, the so-called Libyan coastguard shouted “go home” while pointing an automatic weapon at the NGO crew, threatening them in order to prevent the rescue. Shortly after, the patrol boat 648 intercepted all persons on board of the rubber boat.

Location: international waters
Date of the incident: 27 November 2024
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: likely so-called Libyan coastguard members
Summary: Four masked men pushed 47 persons in the water. Luckily, the NGO ship was able to rescue them. The four masked men remained on their boat and left immediately. According to the reports of survivors, the men were members of the so-called Libyan coastguard.

Location: international waters
Date of the incident: 19 September 2024
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard patrol boat Gharyan
Summary: At the end of a rescue, conducted by the NGO vessel Geo Barents, the so-called Libyan coastguard patrol boat Gharyan arrived on-scene, threatened to use firearms and performed dangerous maneuvers around the people in distress in an attempt to intimidate the people as well as the crew of the NGO ship.

Location: international waters
Date of the incident: 18 June 2024
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard patrol boat
Summary: On June 18, an illegal transshipment of approximately 60 people from the Maridive Zhor 1 merchant vessel to a patrol boat of the so-called Libyan coastguard, was conducted, despite operational NGO vessels being in the vicinity. During the transshipment, the captain mentioned towards the crew of Seabird, that he and his crew would be arrested if they didn’t comply with the order to transship the people. After the transshipment, a crew member of the so-called Libyan coastguard beat rescue persons with a stick. The people were subsequently illegally brought back to Libya.

Location: international waters
Date of the incident: 16 March 2024
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard
Summary: After already being on scene during a first rescue by the NGO ship Geo Barents, the so-called Libyan coastguard was closely following the RHIBs of the NGO ship during a second subsequent rescue. It then started to do dangerous manoeuvrers, chasing one of the RHIBs of Geo Barents and trying to embark it. The so-called Libyan coastguard hindered the RHIBs to perform and complete the rescue operation. It positioned their boat between the NGO ship and the boat in distress and for more than 2 hours disturbed the rescue operation by trying to prevent the embarkation of all people in distress to the Geo Barents. Eventually, the ship’s crew of Geo Barents managed to take all people on board.

Location: international waters
Date of the incident: 02 March 2024
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard
Summary: When the NGO vessel Humanity 1 arrived on scene of a boat in distress with around 50 people on board, the so-called Libyan coastguard was already with the boat in distress. Humanity 1 offered its ability to rescue and assist the people in distress in accordance with international law but the so-called Libyan coastguard started an attempt to take the people from the boat in distress on board their vessel, leading to people in the water. The so-called Libyan coastguard ordered Humanity 1 to proceed north and threatened to shoot them with a gun if they would not leave with full speed. Humanity 1 therefore had to leave the scene.
Later that afternoon, Humanity 1 was close to three boats in distress at the same time. Shortly after Humanity 1 had launched its RHIBs, the so-called Libyan coastguard arrived on the scene ordering Humanity 1 to proceed north and threatening again to shoot if Humanity 1 would not comply. Humanity 1 repeated several times that they were in the middle of a rescue operation and that they would comply once the rescue was completed. The so-called Libyan coastguard also deployed a RHIB and approached the boat in distress and the rescue boats of Humanity 1 in a dangerous maneuver. At least one officer boarded the distress vessel and directed it towards the patrol boat. Thiscaused panic and several persons fell or jumped into the water. The so-called Libyan coastguard then fired shots in the water, close to the people in the water. The people in the water were partly recovered by the Libyan patrol boat and partly by Humanity 1. From two of the distress cases people were therefore partly intercepted by so-called Libyan coastguard and partly rescued by Humanity 1. At least one person was reported missing and probably drowned.

Location: International waters, Libyan SAR zone
Date of the incident: 31 January 2024
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan Coast Guard
Summary: A so-called Libyan Coast Guard patrol boat set off at full
speed on a collision course with the NGO ship Humanity 1, crossed
its bow, and then circled her for minutes at a distance of less than
50 meters.

Location: International waters
Date of the incident: 24 October 2023
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan Coast Guard
Summary: The so-called Libyan Coast Guard harassed a boat in dis-
tress, persons escaped and jumped or fell in the water. The NGO
ship Sea-Eye 4, that was present, managed to rescue some of the
people, others went missing.

Location: international waters, in the Libyan SAR zone
Date of the incident: 28 August 2023
Summary: On 28 August 2023, at 16:42 UTC, Frontex’ aircraft sighted a boat in distress, with a so-called Libyan coastguard in its vicinity. The so-called Libyan coastguard started chasing the boat in distress, which was escaping. The so-called Libyan coastguard then deployed a RHIB with 3 persons, two with batons. One person threw one baton to the boat in distress. At 16:52 UTC, the two crew members jumped onto the boat and attacked the person steering it. Frontex witnessed violent blows by both persons, using the batons and their fists. The boat in distress was eventually apprehended and the persons onboard, intercepted. During the interception, at least three persons were hit with a baton prior to their onboarding onto the patrol boat. Another crew member of the so-called Libyan coastguard was observed hitting persons with a rope during and after their interception.

Location: international waters
Date of the incident: 17 August 2023
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard patrol boat 662
Summary: During a rescue carried out by the NGO vessel Geo Barents, the so-called Libyan coastguard approached the rescue vessel and tried to intimidate it into leaving the area. The vessel used by the so-called Libyan coastguard bore the number 662 and was donated by Italy. Following the initial encounter, the Libyan coastguard re-approached the Geo Barents and trailed the vessel. This created panic amongst the rescued people.

Location: International waters
Date of the incident: 18 July 2023
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan Coast Guard
Summary: According to media reports, an Italian fishing boat was
attacked with machine gun fire by a vessel of the Libyan Coast Guard,
some 94 miles north of the Libyan city of Misrata. After
firing shots, militiamen from the so-called Libyan Coast Guard vessel board-
ed the fishing vessel and took the SIM cards of the fisherman. The
ships rubber was damaged, leaving the boat adrift, and the captain
suffered a shock reaction and required medical attention. The at-
tacking vessel was probably donated to the Libyan actors by Italy.

Location: international waters
Date of Incident: 25 March 2023
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard
Summary: During a rescue conducted by the NGO ship Ocean Viking, the so-called Libyan coastguard patrol vessel 656 dangerously approached the Ocean Viking. All attempts by the bridge’s team to contact the so-called Libyan coastguard via VHF went unanswered while the crew of the patrol vessel started behaving aggressively, threatening with guns and firing gunshots in the air in direction of the NGO vessel. Since its crew was under threat, the Ocean Viking was forced to sail away from the scene, while the so-called Libyan coastguard continued to fire shots. The civil reconnaissance aircraft Seabird 2, operated by the NGO Sea-Watch, witnessed and documented the incident. After the NGO vessel left the scene, the so-called Libyan coastguard continued shooting into the water in the direction of the people in distress. Due to the gunshots and the dangerous maneuver by the so-called Libyan coastguard, people fallen overboard. After recovering those in the water, approximately 80 people were eventually intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard and forcibly returned to Libya.

Location: international waters
Date of Incident: 25 January 2023
Alleged perpetator(s) affiliation(s): so-called Libyan coastguard
Summary: During an ongoing rescue operation conducted by the NGO ship Ocean Viking, the so-called Libyan coastguard interfered and prevented the RHIB from returning to the mothership for a while.

Location: international waters
Date of Incident: 02 June 2022
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard
Summary: After being hit by shots fired from a patrol vessel of the so-called Libyan coastguard, the Italian fishing vessel Salvatore Mercurio needed support by the Italian navy. A team of marines was transferred by helicopter to the fishing boat, to secure it. The incident happened off the eastern Libyan coast, inside international waters.

Location: International waters, Maltese SAR zone
Date of the incident: 19 January 2022
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan Coast Guard
Summary: When the NGO vessel Louise Michel arrived on the scene of an interception of a rubber boat , the crew witnessed members of the so-called Libyan Coast Guard shooting at people who had jumped into the waters to escape the pushback. It remains unclear if people were killed.

Location: international waters, Libyan SAR zone
Date of Incident: 18 November 2021
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: Libyan Navy
Summary: The Libyan patrol boat 634 Al Sadada approached the Sea-Watch 4 while the NGO vessel was sailing in international waters, about 40 NM off the Libyan coast. Sea-Watch 4 had 120 persons, rescued in two different operations a few hours before, and the 29 members of the crew on board of the Sea-Watch 4, while the Libyan officers, who identify themselves as the Libyan Navy, threatened the captain to “open fire if the engines were not turned off”. Although the captain of Sea-Watch 4 reminded to the so-called Libyan coastguard that the NGO ship was sailing in international waters, the so-called Libyan coastguard repeated several times “to stop engine (…) otherwise we will take you back to Libya – or – you will be shot”. Furthermore they threatened to arrest the crew if the ship would not change course.
In the meantime, in order to intimidate Sea-Watch 4’s crew, the Libyan vessel 634 Al Sadada arrived less than 20 meters away from the NGO vessel activating a loud siren. Some of the Libyan officers on board of the patrolling boat were wearing uniforms, one of them was standing next to the ship’s machine guns installed on the bow, others were taking picture or recording the scene with their mobile phones. The Libyan vessel eventually deactivated the siren and slowly moved away. They remained in the proximity of Sea-Watch 4 and then left the scene half an hour later.

Location: international waters, Libyan SAR zone
Date of Incident: 27 July 2021
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard
Summary: While Sea-Watch 3 was sailing about 27 nautical miles off the Libyan coast in international waters, the captain was reached on the on-board satellite phone by the so-called Libyan coastguard. The so-called Libyan coastguard threatened to send patrol boats to arrest the Sea-Watch 3’s crew if the NGO vessel had not left the area defined in the communication as "Libyan economic waters". Furthermore, the so-called Libyan coastguard said that they were ready to use "any means" if Sea-Watch 3 did not comply with their demands. In one of the two calls, the Libyan military made direct reference to Article 19 UNCLOS, accusing Sea-Watch 3 of violating international laws and representing a threat to the Libyan state. Sea-Watch 3 continued patrolling the international waters in front of the Libyan coast and did not receive any further communication from the Libyan MRCC. In order to ensure the safety of the crew and to denounce what happened, Sea-Watch provided all relevant details to the German authorities.

Date of Incident: 6 May 2021
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard
Summary: An Italian fisherman has been injured by gunfire shot by the patrol boat Ubari 660, operated by the so-called Libyan coastguard.

Location: international waters, Maltese SAR zone
Date of Incident: 12 February 2021
Alleged Perpetrators: so-called Libyan coastguard
Summary: While the RHIBs of the NGO vessel Open Arms were deployed to look for a boat in distress, the so-called Libyan coastguard intimidated the crew, especially sailing near one RHIB performing dangerous maneuvers. After twenty minutes, the so-called Libyan coastguard headed south. The people were in the end rescued by the NGO vessel Open Arms.

Location: international waters
Date of Incident: 23 August 2020
Total number of casualties: at least 5 persons
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard
Summary: On 23 August 2020, Moonbird’s crew spotted 2 so-called Libyan coastguard patrol boats heading towards one another in the Libyan SAR zone. At the time of the first spotting, 1 boat had approximately 5 bodies on board, lying on top of one another. We assume that they were recovered bodies from a shipwreck. When Moonbird’s crew spotted these patrol boats again, both boats were heading to Tripoli.

Location: international waters
Date of incident: 29 June to 21 July 2020
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard
Summary: During the June and July missions, the NGO aircraft Moonbird and Seabird’s crew spotted 3 bodies. One, near a half-deflated rubber boat - likely not retrieved during an interception -, was documented on several occasions. While the authorities were alerted, there has not been any actions undertaken to retrieve these bodies in a last show of dignity.

Location: port of Tripoli, Libya
Date of Incident: 11 January 2020
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard
Summary: According to testimonies and the UNHCR, around 60 persons were pushed back to the port of Tripoli by a commercial vessel. As they refused to disembark, the so-called Libyan coastguard fired shots at the people, killing at least one Sudanese person. The fate of another person remains unclear.

Location: Tripoli, Libya
Date of the incident: 19 September 2019
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan Coast Guard
Summary: A Sudanese person died from a bullet wound, hours
after being returned to shore by the so-called Libyan coastguard.
This occurred at Abusitta Disembarkation point in Tripoli as many
of the 103 migrants returned to shore were resisting being sent
back to detention centers. IOM staff who were on the scene re-
ported that armed men began shooting in the air when several mi-
grants tried to run away from their guards. The person injured was
struck by a bullet in the stomach. Despite receiving medical aid on
the spot by an IOM doctor and then being transferred to a nearby
clinic, he died two hours after admission.

Location: international waters, Libyan SAR zone
Date of Incident: 06 November 2017
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard
Summary: On 6 November 2017, persons in distress at sea reached out to the Italian authorities, who coordinated their “rescue”. When the NGO vessel Sea-Watch 3 arrived on-scene of the boat in distress, the so-called Libyan coastguard tried to take over the rescue. The so-called Libyan coastguard beat the people in distress with a bull whip. Moreover, they threatened the crew of the NGO vessel, throwing hard objects at them. The Italian authorities even tried to intervene with a helicopter. The so-called Libyan coastguard continued to take people on-board their vessel, while at the same time people jumped back into the water, in fear of violence and interception to Libya. The Sea-Watch 3 rescued 59 persons. At least 5 people died, 47 were forcibly pulled back to Libya.

Location: International waters, 20 miles off Libya
Date of the incident: 15 August 2017
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan Coast Guard
Summary: Only a few days after the Open Arms was threatened with warning shots, the Golfo Azzurro of the same NGO was seized for two hours by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard, in international waters and forced, at gunpoint, to head into Libyan waters.

Location: international waters, 13 nautical miles off the Libyan coast
Date of the incident: 26 May 2017
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan Coast Guard
Summary: An Italian patrol boat CP 288 of the Italian coastguard was subjected to gunfire from a similar vessel of the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. The Libyan patrol boat, after ordering the Italian vessel to stop by radio, fired a shot into the left stern of the Italian patrol boat, which managed to get away. Afterwards, the General Command of the Harbour Offices (Maricogecap) received a call of apologies from the Libyan authorities which admitted that the Libyan military mistook the Italian vessel for a boat carrying potential persons in distress.

Location: international waters
Date of Incident: 10 May 2017
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan coastguard
Summary: While the NGO vessel Sea Watch 2 started to send a RHIB to distribute life jackets to a boat in distress, a Libyan-flagged boat arrived at full speed, cutting off Sea-Watch 2. The Libyan boat headed towards the overloaded wooden distress vessel. The captain of Sea-Watch 2 tried several times to contact the Libyan vessel, but received no reply. The crew of the Sea-Watch 2 was informed by the IMRCC that the so-called Libyan coastguard would have run the operation.

Location: International waters
Date of the incident: 17 August 2016
Alleged perpetrator(s) affiliations: so-called Libyan Coast Guard
Summary: The NGO ship Bourbon Argos was approached and attacked by a group of armed men onboard an unidentified speedboat. Given the lack of clear identification and communication or any radio answer from the approaching speedboat, the crew took the precautionary measure to move to a designated safe area inside the vessel. There were no rescued people onboard at that time. The attack began when armed men on board the speedboat fired shots toward the Bourbon Argos from a distance of 400 to 500 metres and then boarded the vessel. The armed men boarded the Bourbon Argos and moved around, leaving after approximately 50 minutes. There were signs of at least 13 bullets shot at the vessel.