Christian Migrants Thrown Overboard By Muslims

Twelve Christian migrants were thrown overboard and drowned by a group of Muslims while on a boat traveling from Libya to Italy, Italian police revealed in a statement on Thursday.

The boat of 105 people left Libya to cross 300 miles of the Mediterranean Sea, fleeing the conflict in the region to seek asylum as migrants in Italy. During the journey, the conflict was brought with them as a group of Muslims got into an argument with a group of Christians over religious issues. The Muslims attacked the Christians and threw 12 of them overboard. Other Christians were on the boat, however they were protected by a human chain of other migrants around them. The boat was intercepted by the Italian navy before reaching land, where they discovered the incident.

Italian police in Palermo, Sicily, said that 15 of the Muslims on board, from the Ivory Coast, Mali, and Senegal, were arrested on suspicion of murdering the Christians, and are being questioned. In a separate incident on Thursday, 41 people drowned attempting to make the journey from Northern Africa and the Middle East to Europe. Nearly 10,000 people this week have attempted to make the journey from Libya to Italy, and over 900 have drowned by this time last year.

Flavio di Giacomo of the International Organization of Migration noted in a statement that this behavior has happened before, but is rare. Fights between migrants, who are often of differing religious faiths, have broken out, with some being killed, but Giacomo said that it more a battle of survival than a religious impasse. Giacomo also noted that geographical bigotry exists on the migrant boats. Libyans often view those from sub-Saharan Africa as being worth less than those further north. These people were often forced into the hulls of migrant boats, while people from further north could stay on deck.

The region, though rich in history and travel opportunities, is still difficult and dangerous to travel to. On Wednesday air strikes hit the capitol of Tripoli at the same time U.N. peace talks were resuming in Morocco. The U.S. government currently warns all citizens against all travel to Libya.

A boat dock in Bangladesh takes us to a place of too much seaside, boat-related action:

https://youtu.be/w91hT-9WVlQ