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Rome:An Italian prosecutor is investigating some members of humanitarian organisations rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean Sea on suspicion they may have cooperated with people smugglers.

AmbrogioCartosio, chief prosecutor of the western Sicilian city ofTrapani, told a parliamentary committee in Rome on Wednesday that the organisations themselves were not a target of the inquiry.

Suspicions arose because some rescue crew seemed to know in advance where to find the flimsy boats crowded with migrants after smugglers sent them off from north African ports, he said.

Migrant arrivals to Italy by sea are up almost 40 per cent this year over the same period in 2016, and more than a half-million people have come in the past three years. Some Italian politicians have begun saying the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) run a "taxi" service bringing migrants to Italy.

"We understand that NGOs made some rescues at sea without informing the Coast Guard,"Cartosiosaid. Italy's Coast Guard is in charge of coordinating all rescues in international waters off the shores of Libya.

The prosecutor gave no further details. By law, information regarding ongoing probes must be kept secret. Aid groups have strongly denied any ties to human traffickers.

NGO boats operating off the coast of Libya have come in for criticism in Italy in recent months after the prosecutor in Catania, on Sicily's east coast, opened a fact-finding probe into possible ties between NGOs and Libya-based traffickers.

Catania prosecutorCarmeloZuccarohas not opened a criminal probe because he says he has no evidence of actual collusion between human traffickers and rescue boat crews, although he does maintain the two sides have been in telephone contact.

But political parties including 5-Star Movement - Italy's most popular according to polls - have seized onZuccaro'scomments as proof of an NGO "taxi" service for migrants.

Cartosiosaid he had no evidence of phone contacts between NGOs and smugglers or of payments by traffickers to NGOs, another accusationZuccarois looking into.

"I agree 100 per cent with the work of the NGOs, even if their work saves only one human life,"Cartosiosaid.

News of the investigation comes asLibyancoastguard turned a woodenboat with nearly 500 migrantson board back to Tripoliafter warning off a NGO ship.

Footage filmed by Sea-Watch, a non-governmental organisation, showed a Libyan coastguard vessel coming within metres of its own ship as it sped to stop the migrants.

Tripoli coastguard spokesmanAyoubQassemaccused the NGO og hindering the coastguard's work.

"An international rescue organisation called Sea-Watch tried to hinder the work of our coastguard ... in a bid to take the migrants, claiming Libya is not safe for migrants," he said.

Qassemsaid the coastguard had also exchanged fire with smugglers, but gave no details.

RubenNeugebauer, a spokesman for Sea-Watch, said the NGO had received instruction from Italy's coastguard control centre in Rome that the Libyan coastguard would be taking over "on-scene command", and that the Sea-Watch ship had stopped to await further instructions.

"Without any warning, they crossed our bow on the way to the migrant boat,"Neugebauersaid. "They made an extremely dangerous manoeuvre. They nearly hit our boat, they endangered our crew."

Libya is the main departure point for migrants hoping to reach Europe by sea. The country has been in turmoil for years and migrants living there or passing through say they are subject to a range of abuses.

Separately, Italian police in the southern city of Bari said on Wednesday they arrested five people who allegedly organised passage to other European countries for African migrants rescued in the Mediterranean. Police are still hunting for 10 others.

Reuters

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Migrant crisis: Italy investigates rescue workers while Libya turns back boat - The Sydney Morning Herald