By Emre Aytekin
ANKARA (AA) - The island of Malta has seized a tanker hijacked Wednesday off the Libyan coast with a six-member crew, including a Turkish captain, the Maltese Armed Forces announced.
In an operation Thursday using speedboats and a helicopter, Maltese forces took control of the tanker, which had been hijacked by migrants rescued by the ship who did not want to be returned to Libya.
The Palau-flagged tanker Elhiblu 1 embarked last week from a shipyard in Tuzla, Istanbul before being hijacked after picking up 108 migrants at sea.
The 52-meter ship had a six-person crew, including a Turkish captain, four Indians, and one Libyan.
*Writing by Faruk Zorlu