Italian police on Tuesday were
trying to piece together the dynamic of Saturday's migrant boat
disaster off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa and establish an
accurate death toll on Tuesday after chilling new details
emerged.
Migrants rescued by the Danish petrol tanker Torm Lotte in
waters between Libya and Malta and taken to the Sicilian port of
Messina told investigators that around 60 people had been
stabbed by traffickers indiscriminately and their bodies thrown
into the sea.
These deaths come on top of the 29 people known to have
died by asphyxiation after the traffickers allegedly prevented
dozens of migrants from leaving the hold.
Further, dozens of migrants are feared to have drowned
during transfer to the Danish freighter from the rickety fishing
boat that is thought to have been carrying between 700 and 750
people.
A child aged two was also found dead on arrival in Messina
and a woman died while being transferred to hospital for
treatment.
Earlier in the day migrants told Repubblica.it that 181
people had died in the tragedy but investigators put a closer
estimate at 141.
On Tuesday five men presumed to be the traffickers were
arrested on charges of multiple homicide.
They were Mhamed Morad Al Fallah, 21, from Syria, Youssef
Dahman, 21, and Abdrzakc Asbaoui Asbaoui, 25, from Morocco,
Saddam Abuhddayed, 25, from the Palestinian territories, and
Jamal Rajeb, 32, from Saudi Arabia.
Investigators have also established that a double tariff
system applied to the sea voyage, with migrants of Arab origin
paying 1,000-2,000 dollars for a place on deck and Africans
paying 250-500 dollars for a passage in the hold.
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