Italy denies reports of Libyan refugee 'human sacrifice'

Prosecutors have denied reports they are investigating allegations by a refugee fleeing Libya that people on the boat threw other refugees into the sea as a "human sacrifice".

Libyan migrants are rescued by the Italian Coast Guard off the coast of Lampedusa Photo: EPA

6:53AM BST 12 May 2011

A 16-year-old Ghanaian spoke to a volunteer from the charity Save the Children after arriving on the island of Lampedusa earlier this month and his disturbing allegations against a group of Nigerians were reported to police.

 

However, in a statement, prosecutors in Agrigento denied they were investigating the claims, adding that they found the "testimony highly unlikely".

Earlier Emanuela Salvatori from Save the Children, said: "We can confirm that we collected the testimony from this minor and that an investigation is underway."

Italian newspapers quoted the teenager's chilling testimony directly.

"The sea was getting stormy and a group of Nigerians on board suddenly decided the only way to calm the weather was to sacrifice some of us," the unnamed boy was quoted as saying by La Repubblica daily.

The Ghanaian, who is now in a refugee centre in Italy, said his brother was one of the victims and also spoke of women being raped on the boat.
Thousands of refugees fleeing Libya - almost all of them migrant workers from sub-Saharan Africa and Asia - have been arriving in Italy in recent weeks as the conflict in North Africa has escalated.

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