Muslim migrants, who were attempting to flee to Italy from Libya onboard a boat last week, reportedly pushed 12 fellow passengers overboard, thus killing them, because they belonged to a different religion. According to police officials in Italy, the 12 pushed overboard happened to be Christians, and 15 suspects have been arrested for causing their deaths at sea.

The original crew of 105 migrants left for Italy from Libya onboard a rubber boat on April 14. As the boat approached the north of the Mediterranean Sea, the alleged assailants, from Mali, Ivory Coast and Senegal, pushed the 12 victims overboard. Some of the survivors told police officials that they had been spared only because they strongly condemned the act of their Muslim counterparts and held each other’s hands to form a sturdy human chain.

After the horrifying incident, an Italian navy vessel intercepted the boat and transferred the passengers to a ship from Panama. After the rescue ship reached the docks of Palermo the following day, the 12 suspects were arrested immediately. Those reported dead were from Ghana and Nigeria, said police officials.

Several thousand migrants make such dangerous sea voyages each year from northern Africa to the Mediterranean coast, usually onboard poorly equipped vessels, with hopes of fleeing poverty and war that is rampant across a number of African and Middle-Eastern countries. Many migrants die each year during such voyages, because their boats often capsize. In 2014, at least 3,200 migrants lost their lives while trying to flee their respective homelands.

The International Organization for Migration records suggest as many as 22,000 people have lost their lives while voyaging across the Mediterranean Sea since 2000.

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