17th April, 2015
Muslim asylum seekers attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Italy allegedly threw 12 fellow passengers overboard because they were Christians, Italian police have told media outlets.
Italian police said on 16th April they have arrested 15 people from the Ivory Coast, Senegal and Mali on suspicion of murdering the 12 Christians, who reportedly come from Nigeria and Ghana.
There were as many as 105 people on board the rubber boat which reportedly left Libya on Tuesday. A fight apparently broke out on board and at some point the Christians were allegedly thrown overboard.
According to reports, police said in a statement that the "motive for the resentment was traced to their faiths".
The boat was intercepted by an Italian naval vessel and the passengers were transferred to a Palestinian-registered ship which subsequently docked at Palermo where the arrests were subsequently made.
Meanwhile as many as 400 people were feared dead after a double-decker boat capsized south of Italy on 13th April.
– DAVID ADAMS
