Terrified migrants reported that
12 people were killed in a fight between Christians and Muslims
on a boat fleeing from Libya as the European Commission admitted
Thursday that the migrant situation in the Mediterranean was
deteriorating.
Police in Sicily arrested 15 people on suspicion of
multiple murder aggravated by religious hatred based on
information collected from others on the overcrowded migrant
boat.
It is believed that a group of Muslim migrants from Ivory
Coast, Mali and Senegal had attacked a small number of
Christians from Nigeria and Ghana, throwing a dozen people
overboard.
Some of the Christians who survived were protected by other
migrants on board who police said formed a kind of "human
chain".
Meanwhile, at least 40 migrants were reported drowned with
just four survivors found and brought Thursday morning to the
port of Trapani by Navy vessel.
The survivors said their group of about 45 people had left
Tripoli in North Libya on an inflatable raft.
In recent days, some 10,000 migrants have been rescued from
the sea, mostly between Libya and Italy.
It is estimated about 500 people have drowned so far this
year in the dangerous sea crossing.
War-torn Libya is a frequent embarcation point for migrants
fleeing violence in parts of Africa as well as the Middle East.
Almost all are headed for different parts of Europe but
Italy is the closest landing point.
The EC admitted Thursday that the crisis is deteriorating
quickly.
"The situation in the Mediterranean is serious and it will
get worse in the coming weeks and months," said European
Commission spokesperson Natasha Bertaud.
Italy, which has seen a sharp increase this year in the
already large flow of migrants heading to its coast, has
repeatedly complained it is not getting enough help from Europe.
Authorities in Italy are braced for arrivals to accelerate
even more as weather and sea conditions have been improving with
the arrival of spring.
"We have to be frank," added Bertaud.
"The commission cannot do everything on its own. We don't
have the magic wand because we don't have the funds or political
support (to do more)".
In 2014, a record 170,000 people fleeing poverty and war in
Africa and the Middle East made the perilous crossing to Italy
as a stepping stone to Europe.
Italy has called on the EU to do more to strengthen
Operation Triton, a project of the European Union's Frontex
border security agency.
In November, it replaced Italy's much larger but more
expensive Mare Nostrum search and rescue program initiated after
a series of migrant deaths in October 2013.
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