Muslim migrants arrested for throwing Christians off vessel, victims feared dead

Fifteen Muslim migrants from Sicily were arrested after being accused of throwing 12 Christians overboard as they cross from Libya to Italy last Wednesday. According to the Palermo police, they detained the suspected perpetrators, while the victims are feared to be already dead. Authorities claimed they were informed of the crime after interviewing the rescued survivors at the sea.

span style="line-height: 15.8599996566772px;">MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) -  The 15 detained suspects were charged with multiple aggravated murder motivated by religious hate, according to The Blaze. The crime happened after a fight between the Muslims and the Christians, according to the information from the witnesses.

The survivors said that during the trip, the suspects threatened to abandon the other migrant passengers whom were believed to be Christians. In a report by ABC News, those in question are Muslim migrants from the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali, and Guinea Bissau, who later carried out their threat after the victims "professed the Christian faith."

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The remaining Christian survivors were fortunate enough not to be thrown over, after resisting the assault with a formed human chain.

About 105 passengers were reported to have boarded the rubber boat on April 14. The assault has further aggravated the migration crisis in Italy as more people from the Middle East and Africa are attempting to enter into the European country, part of the "unprecedented wave" as termed by the Associated Press.

The International Organization of Migration said that four migrants reported another shipwreck, which initially had about 45 passengers, but now 41 of them are feared dead. These interviewed migrants were rescued by the Italian Naval ship Foscari, after they were found floating in the waters by a helicopter. These incidents happened only after the report of 400 presumed dead after a ship sunk near Libya.

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