Italy arrests five over migrant 'massacre' at sea

23 İyul 2014 09:44 | 855

Italian police have arrested five migrants accused of the grisly murder of scores of fellow would-be refugees when fighting broke out on a boat making the treacherous crossing to Europe, local media reported.

Italian and Maltese naval crews last Saturday discovered 30 bodies -- including that of a baby -- of passengers who had apparently been overcome by heat and engine fumes after being locked in the hold of a boat carrying over 560 mostly-Syrian migrants, according to the reports.

And police in the Sicilian port of Messina, where the survivors were brought, were said to believe a further 110 people had been thrown into the ocean by their fellow passengers on the horror crossing from Tunisia.

Survivors told police grim details of how a journey to a better life turned into a nightmare for many onboard.

They described what they witnessed on the boat as a massacre, police told media.

According to the witnesses, migrants locked in the hold panicked as air ran out, forced the door and stormed the bridge.

The boat began to founder, and fighting erupted between two groups of passengers on the bridge -- one that wanted to brave the high seas and continue the voyage, and another that wanted to return to Tunisia.

Witnesses reportedly claimed that, in the chaos, many people were stabbed, while others were thrown overboard in a bid to keep the vessel afloat.

Messina's chief of police estimated that 50 of the migrants were thrown overboard, and around 60 were stabbed and then thrown into the sea.

The five men arrested were said to be a 21-year-old Syrian, two Moroccans aged 21 and 25, a Palestinian of 25 and a Saudi aged 32.

Three of the men tried to escape, according to the Italian media, and had bus tickets for Milan in northern Italy in their pockets

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