Libyan Coast Guard Attacks Migrant Boat, Four Dead

ROME, Oct 21 (Reuters) - An NGO rescue group said on Friday that the crew of a speedboat labelled "Libyan Coast Guard" had attacked a migrant boat packed with some 150 migrants, beating them with sticks and causing at least four to fall into the water and drown.

"The violent intervention of the Libyan Coast Guard caused a situation of mass panic on board the rubber boat in distress," Sea Watch said in a statement. "One tube of the rubber boat collapsed, causing the majority of the 150 people to slip into the water."

The Sea Watch crew were still conducting rescue operations, but had already recovered four bodies, Sea Watch spokesman Ruben Neugebauer told Reuters.

A spokesman for Libya's naval forces in Tripoli said he had not heard about about the incident. (Reporting by Steve Scherer