A vessel transporting humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip claimed it was targeted by a drone strike off the coast of Malta and issued an SOS signal, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) in a social media post on Friday.
Unconfirmed Arab media reports attributed the strike to Israel, which did not comment on the reports.
Some 30 people were on board the “Conscience” ship at the time of the strike, which occurred shortly after 12 a.m., according to the post.
The government of Malta issued a statement later saying 12 crew members and four civilians were on board the vessel, with no casualties reported.
At around 2:00 a.m., those on board “were confirmed safe but refused to board the tug,” which had come to their aid, the statement noted, adding that at 3:45 a.m., the ship and the members on board were “secure.”
“The ship remains outside territorial waters and is being monitored by the competent authorities,” the statement read.
“Our vessel is 17 kilometers off the shores of Malta right now in international waters, and they have been subjected to a drone attack twice,” the FFC’s spokesperson, Yasemin Acar, told CNN.
Vessel issues SOS signal
According to Acar, the generators at the ship’s fore were the targets of the strike, adding that there was a hole in the ship that had begun to sink.
Acar said that the vessel had also issued an SOS signal to Malta and other countries, and a small ship from Cyprus had been dispatched.
The FFC defines itself as “a grassroots people-to-people solidarity movement composed of campaigns and initiatives from different parts of the world, working together to end the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza,” according to its website.
Amichai Stein contributed to this report.
This is a developing story.
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