Muslim migrants travelling on boat threw Nigerian, Ghana Christians overboard

Italian police arrested 15 Muslim migrants who survivors said tossed 12 Christians from a boat during a recent Mediterranean crossing attempt. In a separate incident, 41 migrants were feared drowned as the situation in the region intensifies.

The Muslim migrants involved in the clash with Christians were arrested in the Sicilian city of Palmero and charged with "multiple aggravated murder motivated by religious hate," police said in a statement Thursday, according to the BBC. The victims were from Nigeria and Ghana. The suspects were from Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal.

Police learned of the incident through interviews with survivors, who said they boarded a rubber boat Tuesday off the Libyan coast with 105 passengers aboard, the Associated Press reported. The surviving Christians were able to remain onboard only by forming a "human chain" to resist the assault, police said.

Earlier Thursday, the International Organization of Migration said 41 migrants were feared dead after survivors were brought to a Sicilian port, Reuters reported. About 450 people may have died this week after 400 were presumed dead when another ship capsized off the Libya coast.

If this week's figures are confirmed, the death toll for the year would rise to more than 900. Nearly 10,000 migrants — mostly from North African nations — have been rescued since Friday.