ITALY: Six men arrested on suspicion of migrant trafficking and causing the deaths of 25 men who were found on a boat crammed with African migrants and apparently died of asphyxiation

Record ID: 348162

  • Title: ITALY: Six men arrested on suspicion of migrant trafficking and causing the deaths of 25 men who were found on a boat crammed with African migrants and apparently died of asphyxiation
  • Date: 6th August 2011
  • Summary: AGRICENTO, ITALY (AUGUST 5, 2011) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POLICE CAR IN HARBOUR AS HYDROFOIL FROM LAMPEDUSA DOCKS VARIOUS OF SIX SUSPECTED MIGRANT TRAFFICKERS ESCORTED OUT OF HYDROFOIL BY POLICE SUSPECTED MIGRANT TRAFFICKER TRYING TO COVER HIS FACE WITH SCARF AS HE IS ESCORTED OFF HYDROFOIL VARIOUS OF SUSPECTED MIGRANT TRAFFICKERS BEING TAKEN TO POLICE C
  • Embargoed: 21st August 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy, Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Crime,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA4SV1I8PG1CW8DIJN3ARUHKAKB
  • Story Text: Italian police on Friday (August 5) arrested six men over suspicions of human trafficking and causing the deaths of 25 men, discovered apparently asphyxiated by motor fumes onboard a migrant vessel.
    The boat arrived on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa on Monday (August 1) after a three-day voyage carrying 296 people from sub-Saharan Africa.
    According to migrants travelling on the crammed boat, the six men in charge of the boat prevented people travelling under the deck from exiting after motor fumes covered the area, Italian media reported.
    Some witnesses said two migrants had been beaten to death by the six, according to reports.
    Italy's Ansa news agency said the six were Somali, Moroccan and Syrian nationals.
    Hundreds of people have drowned attempting the dangerous crossing from North Africa to Lampedusa, a tiny island off the southern coast of Sicily, as the fighting in Libya has brought down previously strict border controls.
    The latest victims were squeezed into the hold of the boat and were already dead when it pulled into harbour with the aid of coast guard vessels, who came to the boat's rescue some 35 miles (55 km) offshore, authorities said.
    The men were likely dead for 48 hours judging from the condition they were found in, a local medic, Pietro Bartolo, told Ansa.
    Lampedusa, which normally lives off tourism and fishing, has found itself on the frontline of a growing immigration crisis as tens of thousands have arrived from Tunisia and Libya since the beginning of the year.
    Libya has long been a popular point from which thousands of African migrants have attempted to cross into Europe.
    A deal between Gaddafi and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government to send migrants back before they enter Italian waters succeeded in curbing the flow of migrants until the uprising against Gaddafi began this year.
    The United Nations (UN) refugee agency has said one in 10 migrants fleeing conflict in Libya by sea is likely to drown or die from hunger or exhaustion in appalling conditions during the crossing.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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