Italy Forces Refuses to Let Migrants Disembark

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Italy's hard-line interior minister refused Thursday to let 67 migrants disembark from an Italian coast guard ship until an investigation determines whether any of them had violently threatened their rescuers to prevent being returned to Libya.

The Diciotti ship pulled into the port of Trapani after taking on board the migrants from an Italian-flagged oil rig supply tug that rescued them Sunday off the coast of Libya. The dispute over what transpired next has turned into the latest standoff since Italy's anti-migrant government took power last month.

Italy's transport minister says the tug reported that some of the migrants made "death threats" against the crew.

"As soon as our ship turned south, to be able to meet up with a Libyan coast guard ship to transfer the migrants, they started to threaten the crew," Christopher Savoye, legal affairs official of the Vroon Offshore Service that owns the Vos Thalassa tug, told the shipping news site The Meditelegraph. "They encircled them, pushed them, making the gesture of cutting their throats."

The tug requested assistance, and the migrants were transferred to the Italian coast guard's Diciotti. By late Thursday, it was still docked at Trapani's port, with no authorization to let its passengers ashore.