Migrant Boat Captain Manslaughter - Italian prosecutors have decided to charge the captain and the first mate of the vessel that sunk of Libyan coast over the weekend, killing several people.
Al Jazeera has learned that the migrant boat captain charged and the crew member were charged with "multiple manslaughter" because they allowed the boat to travel despite being overcrowded with too many passengers.
The Tunisian captain and the first mate were taken from a group of 27 survivors, who arrived safely in the Sicilian port of Catania on Monday evening, following the sinking of the vessel.
"We carried out two arrest warrants of suspected traffickers, the captain of the ship that capsized and a member of the crew. We charged them both with facilitating illegal immigration and the captain was also to be charged with multiple manslaughter," said prosecutor Rocco Ligouri.
The manslaughter charges against the migrant boat captain and the first mate come amid the emergence of more details on what happened during the incident.
"The migrants were crushed inside this fishing boat ... A few hundred migrants were forced into the hold, at the lowest level, and they were locked in and prevented from coming out. Another several hundred were closed into the second level, while on the top, under a cover, there were another hundred migrants." Italian prosecutor Giovanni Salvi said.
A spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Italy said Tuesday that "800 are dead."
Out of the victims, only 24 bodies have been retrieved as of late. Majority of the remains are still stuck in the sunken vessel.
The migrant boat captain was identified as 27-year-old Mohammed Ali Malek while the first mate was identified as 24-year-old Mahmud Bikhit, according to NPR.
"The survivors said that the trafficker who was at the command of the boat piloted it carelessly in the final moments as he was trying to hide and not be recognized as a smuggler," Italian news agency ANSA reported, citing sources.
"There were a little over 800 people on board, including children aged between 10 and 12. There were Syrians, about 150 Eritreans, Somalians... They had left Tripoli at about 8am on Saturday," spokesperson Carlotta Sami said.
Daily Mail reports that EU has vowed to "capture and destroy" smuggler boats transporting desperate migrants onto European shores.
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