News In Brief

Suspected Libyan mine ship held in France over '79 issue

A French court ordered the impoundment of a Libyan ship suspected of involvement in the mining of the Red Sea, maritime authorities in Marseille said Tuesday night. The Ghat, a freighter owned by the General National Maritime Transport Company of Tripoli, Libya, and now undergoing repairs in Marseille, will not be allowed to leave the southern port until further notice.

The court's ruling was based on a legal complaint by a private French transport company, Marseille-Fret, which charges that one of its ships, the Rosa , has been held in the Libyan port of Benghazi since 1979.