Captain Arrested Over Mediterranean Migrant Boat Disaster

The Tunisian captain of a boat that capsized off Libya on Sunday, killing 800 migrants, has been arrested.

Italian police said the men were taken from a group of 27 survivors who arrived in the Sicilian port of Catania on Monday evening.

A Tunisian man, who is believed to be the captain of the vessel, has been charged with people trafficking and reckless multiple homicide in relation to the disaster.

He has also been charged along with a member of the crew with favouring illegal immigration.



A Syrian, allegedly a crew member, has been charged with people trafficking.



Body bags containing 24 corpses of those who drowned arrived in Malta earlier.

The charges came after the EU set out a package of measures to try to ease the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean.

EU leaders including David Cameron will meet in Brussels on Thursday to discuss a plan to tackle the crisis but Labour's Ed Miliband has said the current proposals do not go "nearly far enough" and it will be "a stain on the EU" if proper action is not taken.

"We can say that 800 are dead," said Carlotta Sami, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Italy on Tuesday, after speaking to survivors.

Search and rescue operations would be stepped up, and there would be a campaign to destroy traffickers' boats.

A homicide investigation has been opened into the disaster.

After speaking to the survivors, the UN refugee agency said that about 800 people had died in Sunday's disaster. Earlier accounts had put the death toll at about 700.

"There were a little over 800 people on board, including children aged between 10 and 12," said Carlotta Sami, of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Italy.

"There were Syrians, about 150 Eritreans, Somalians.They had left Tripoli at about 8am on Saturday."