The Moroccan navy opened fire on a boat transporting migrants from the North African country, wounding one of them, a military source said on Wednesday.
Despite warning shots, “the motorboat that was carrying 58 migrants hidden under tarpaulin made a hostile move which forced the coastguard to fire at the captain,” said the source in Rabat who spoke on condition of anonymity.
One of the Moroccan migrants suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder in the overnight operation to intercept the vessel off the town of Larache, on Morocco’s Atlantic coast.
The wounded migrant — a 16-year-old according to media reports — was transferred to a hospital in Tangier, the military source told AFP.