Update 3 | Italian ship with 1,800 passengers from Misurata turns back to Libya after denied entry to Sicily

The news was initially reported reported by Italian news agency ANSA, quoting “reliable sources” in Italy who said that the Maltese government had refused entry to the ship named 'Mistral Express'. The Italian maritime authorities had been monitoring the ship since it’s departure from Misurata yesterday.

According to the Italian report, the ship was initially steaming North towards Maltese territorial waters, and later advanced into Italian waters where it was warned to stay away and was blocked by Italian naval vessels.

An Italian government spokesman said that there is no certainty that the passengers on board the Mistral Express were genuine evacuees.

Investigations carried out by MaltaToday have confirmed that the ship was chartered by Moroccan nationals in Misurata and not by the Moroccan government as was previously suggested.

The ship is said to be carrying 1,800 passengers of various North African nationalities, including Libyans, Moroccans, Egyptians and Algerians. It was originally declared to be heading for Morocco. However, the ship has re-routed to Augusta in Sicily for re-fuelling.

It remains unknown however why the ship decided to re-route to Sicily with the pretext of re-fuelling given that there was little to take on board in Misurata.

Late tonight, the Italian Coast Guard Central Command has confirmed that the Captain has turned the ship around and is seemingly heading back to Libya.

In a statement, early in the afternoon, the Maltese government  categorically denied any push-back or having any knowledge of the ship, however senior government sources have confirmed this evening that Malta would not allow the same ship to come into its waters following Italy's concerns.

Speaking to MaltaToday, UNHCR spokesperson in Rome Laura Boldrini stated that Italy's refusal to allow the ship enter its territorial waters is evidence of the Southern EU nations paranoia of a mass exodus of refugees from Libya.

"It looks like there is a clear misunderstanding and normal civilians could be victims of an unjust situation," she said, that in the absence of clarifications from Rabat, "these North African citizens could be destined to be taken back to where they were fleeing.

The Italian government said earlier that it had engaged the Moroccan ambassador to Rome to verify if Rabat had officially chartered the ship, however no replies were forwarded to the media.