Italian authorities have arrested two men who allegedly trafficked 26 Nigerian women and girls who were found dead on a Spanish ship in the Mediterranean Sea. The suspects were identified as being from Libya and Egypt.
Two men, one of them an Egyptian and the other a Libyan,have been arrested and charged in Italy as investigators look into the deaths of 26 Nigerian women and girls, who are suspected to have been murdered while attempting to cross the Mediterranean.
The bodies of the women were brought
to the southern Italian port of Salerno by the Spanish ship Cantabria on Sunday, and prosecutors opened an investigation over suspicions that the women, some as young as 14, may have been abused and killed.
The bodies were recovered by Cantabria, which works as part of the EU's Sophia anti-trafficking operation, from two separate shipwrecks - 23 from one and three from the other. Fifty-three people are believed to be missing.
Two men, one of them an Egyptian and the other a Libyan,have been arrested and charged in Italy as investigators look into the deaths of 26 Nigerian women and girls, who are suspected to have been murdered while attempting to cross the Mediterranean.
The bodies of the women were brought to the southern Italian port of Salerno by the Spanish ship Cantabria on Sunday, and prosecutors opened an investigation over suspicions that the women, some as young as 14, may have been abused and killed.
The bodies were recovered by Cantabria, which works as part of the EU's Sophia anti-trafficking operation, from two separate shipwrecks - 23 from one and three from the other. Fifty-three people are believed to be missing.
Most of the survivors were either Nigerian or from other sub-Saharan countries including Ghana, Sudan and Senegal.
The survivors brought to Tripoli also included Nigerians and Senegalese.
"I wanted to reach Italy. I don't know what to do now," said Dora Omoruyi, a 23-year old arts student from Benin, Edo state, known as hub for human traffickers to smuggle women to Italy where they often end up as prostitutes.
"I see no future in Nigeria, there are no jobs," she said, standing next to a group of weeping Nigerian survivors.
The survivors were among over 2,560 migrants saved over four days. People still continue to attempt the crossing despite a pact between Italy and Libya to stem the flow, which led to a drop in arrivals by almost 70% since the summer, according to figures released last week by Italy's Interior Ministry.
Source: AllAfricaNews
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