REFUGEES who were rescued last week from a rubber dinghy in the Mediterranean while attempting to flee Libya have told their rescuers of the horrific abuse they witnessed or were subjected to in the war-torn country.

A 20-year-old man from Ivory Coast told the crew of the Ocean Viking — a civil refugee rescue ship operated by French charities SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) — that he saw guards at the notorious Beni Walid illegal prison set his friend on fire. He died two days later.

A 15-year-old girl also from Ivory Coast, who had previously tried to cross the Mediterranean in August but was intercepted by the EU-funded Libyan Coastguard and returned to a detention centre, told the crew that the guards in Libya “do whatever they want to women.”