ROME - ARMED men have detained the 11-strong crew of an Italian high-seas tugboat in the Libyan port of Tripoli, officials and media reports said.
The "Asso 22" tug of the Naples-based shipping company Augusta Offshore SrL has eight Italian, two Indian and one Ukrainian crew members aboard, state-run RAI television said. Armed men, including one believed to be the Tripoli port commander, detained the crew as Libyan workers aboard were disembarking Saturday and prevented the vessel from leaving port, the report said.
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said it was unclear why the men had been seized but that Rome did not exclude a kidnapping.
'We don't know what are the intentions' of the men who seized the 11 crew members on Saturday, but 'we cannot exclude a kidnapping,' the minister said during a telephone call to an Italian television programme.
Italian news agency ANSA said the crew of the ocean-going tug comprising eight Italians, two Indians and one Ukrainian were being held on board.
ANSA quoted sources saying the action occurred on Saturday afternoon soon before French warplanes launched air strikes at the start of a Western military operation against Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi's forces as the tugboat was discharging Libyan employees of the Libyan oil firm NOC.
Armed men, including one who claimed to be the harbour master, detained the crew and prevented the 75-metre vessel from leaving, ANSA said.