Italy arrests trafficking suspects after hundreds drown off Libya

Mediterranean migrant tragedy

Italian police have arrested two alleged people smugglers who were among the survivors of a shipwreck in which up to 800 drowned off Libya and led European foreign ministers to vow to take action to stem the migrant crisis.

Prosecutors in Sicily said Mohammed Ali Malek, the 27-year old Tunisian captain of the stricken boat and Mahmud Bikhit, a 25-year old Syrian crewman were identified as the traffickers by fellow survivors of the accident . They were detained on suspicion of multiple homicide, causing a shipwreck and facilitating illegal immigration.

Italian officials are piecing together details of the disaster and believe the boat tipped over after a Portuguese merchant vessel approached to rescue the refugees and Mr Malek made a hazardous move to avoid being recognised, causing a collision. The vessel capsized after the panicking migrants flocked to one side of the boat to be rescued.

The 27 survivors who arrived in the port of Catania on an Italian coast guard ship late on Monday gave accounts of how they had to cling to the dead to avoid drowning and screamed at the top of their lungs to gain the attention of rescuers, according to La Repubblica, the Italian newspaper.

The details emerged after European ministers pledged to increase the funding and range of the EU's task force in the Mediterranean. Governments also proposed a military operation to destroy vessels used by traffickers in Libya. Maurizio Scalia, a prosecutor in Palermo, said up to 1m Syrians and sub-Saharan migrants are waiting in Libya to cross to Europe.

The proposals followed an emotional appeal by Matteo Renzi, Italy's prime minister, on Monday ahead of an emergency summit of EU leaders set for Thursday.

"Twenty years ago we closed our eyes, along with Europe, when faced with Srebrenica," Mr Renzi said, referring to the Bosnian war massacre. "We cannot close our eyes again."

On Monday, the Italian coast guard rescued 638 more migrants on six separate boats - and some, including 12 women and two minors, disembarked during the night on the island of Lampedusa.

Meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, ministers agreed a 10-point plan aimed at reducing the number of people making the trip and cracking down on smugglers in the face of a growing refugee crisis.

Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, confirmed EU leaders would meet in Brussels to address the death toll, which has risen to 1,600 since the start of the year.

Attempts to forge a consensus among European capitals on a more aggressive strategy has been difficult, with many governments battling rising anti-immigrant sentiment at home.

In a video posted online, Mr Tusk said the summit was intended to discuss "at the highest level" what EU states could do to alleviate a "dramatic" situation in the Mediterranean.

Ministers agreed to introduce a voluntary pilot project of resettlement to share more equally the number of refugees and asylum seekers.

Italy, which is bearing the brunt of rescuing stricken vessels and caring for the refugees ashore, has called for a more even distribution of asylum seekers across Europe.

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Italian authorities would continue to track down smugglers who had come ashore, said Mr Renzi, after prosecutors in Palermo on Monday announced the arrest of 24 traffickers operating in Sicily.

Last year, about 170,000 migrants reached Italy by sea, and as many as 3,000 died en route. Until mid-April, the pace of migration this year was comparable to 2014, but the number of estimated deaths is far greater.

Aid agencies have called for the restoration of a broader search-and-rescue mission in the central Mediterranean, akin to the Mare Nostrum operation run by the Italian navy last year which was then wound down and essentially replaced by Triton, which has a more limited scope. Mr Renzi seemed to dismiss the idea of bringing back Mare Nostrum, saying the Italian navy and coastguard would continue rescuing people, but that in some cases saving lives was impossible given the poor state of the migrant boats.

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