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Five suspected smugglers arrested for investigation of multiple counts of manslaughter and aiding illegal immigration.
Italian police have arrested 5 males accused of a number of murders and human trafficking following a off the coast of Libya which left greater than 200 individuals feared drowned.
The men, who arrived in Palermo aboard the Irish Niamh rescue boat along with 362 migrants, are accused of causing the deaths of hundreds of people by trapping them within the hold of the boat after it started taking on water.
Italian and Irish ships rescued more than 400 migrants and recovered 26 bodies, including three children.
Officers said some of the five smugglers, who were detained when they disembarked with survivors, were tasked with using violence if necessary to ensure the migrants did not move.
When water began seeping in, “the migrants, on the traffickers’ orders, tried desperately to get rid of it”, the police said in a statement.
“Those who could not get out in time would have drowned nearly immediately”, it said.
When the trawler developed problems, “the smugglers called their people in Libya to ask if they could come back but were told to continue to Italy”, the organization said, citing one survivor’s account. Six other survivors were evacuated by helicopters for treatment.
The truly horrific details of some the migrants emerged today as many told police and the life-saving crews of the LE Niamh that they were stabbed and attacked during the perilous journey.
Migrants paid $1,200 to $1,800 each to cross the Mediterranean as they fled war, persecution and poverty.
The capsizing would be the second deadliest tragedy off Libya this year.
Survivors explained to police that African migrants were put in the hold so “they could be closed in and compacted in the hull for three days, having paid half price for the crossing”.
Among the boats were two small vessels which reached the Sardinian coast, including near the tourist and fishing island of Sant’Antioco.
Most of the rescued migrants hope to win asylum in northern Europe, where they have relatives.
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Paula Farias, an MSF project coordinator based in Greece, which has also had to deal with thousands of boat arrivals, said “the beginning is the most critical moment of the rescue, and we have developed specific procedures”.
