Advertisement

  1. National

10,000 migrants rescued from Mediterranean in just four days

Nearly 10,000 migrants have been rescued from boats travelling across the Mediterranean to Italy in the past four days alone, the Italian Coast Guard has revealed.

Official estimates suggesting at least 31,500 migrants have entered Italy and Greece since the start of the year as increasing governmental instability and violence in Africa has prompted a surge in numbers fleeing to Europe.

Another 900 are believed to have drowned on the crossing, including 400 people aboard a boat which capsized on Monday.

View all 15 updates ›

Police in Italy arrest migrants for attack at sea

Police in Sicily have detained 15 Muslim migrants for allegedly throwing 12 Christians overboard during a fight at sea.

Palermo police learned of the incident while interviewing tearful survivors from Nigeria and Ghana, who arrived on Italian soil yesterday morning, after being rescued at sea.

The survivors said they had boarded a rubber boat April 14 at the Libyan coast with 105 passengers aboard.

During the crossing, Nigerian and Ghanaian Christians claim they were attacked by passengers from the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali and Guinea Bissau.

This development is the latest in a growing crisis as Italy struggles to cope with a sudden influx of tens of thousands of refugees escaping instability across Africa.

More top news