Five held in Sicily over boat deaths of migrants

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/22/italy-arrests-migrant-boat-deaths

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The Italian authorities have arrested five alleged human traffickers on suspicion of the murder of dozens migrants who were either stabbed or perished of engine fume inhalation inside the overcrowded hold of a smuggling boat.

Police said the five people arrested in Sicily were accused of stabbing and then throwing overboard 60 men and women after passengers tried to escape the cargo hold, where many had been imprisoned.

Officials said survivors reported seeing "friends and relatives stabbed and stunned" floating in the sea, but were under threat and unable to help.

More than 550 people were rescued on Saturday, and the bodies of 30 were recovered, many of whom asphyxiated inside the hold.