A group of Muslim migrants have been arrested for 'aggravated murder ' after allegedly throwing 12 Christians into the Mediterranean sea during a recent crossing from Libya , Italian police reports . Witnesses say a fight broke out on a rubber dinghy carrying more than 100 African migrants from Libya to Sicily , after which the men were thrown to their deaths . A group of 15 men have now been arrested on suspicion of 'multiple aggravated murder motivated by religious hate , ' Palermo police said in a statement . Murders : A fight over religion broke out on a boat carrying 105 migrants from Libya , after which 12 men 'professing the Christian faith ' were thrown to their deaths . Pictured : Migrants are transferred to holding centers after disembarking from in Augusta 's port , near Siracusa , Sicily . Italian police say they were informed of the alleged attacks by a group of Nigerian and Ghanaian survivors upon their arrival in Palermo , Sicily yesterday . The survivors said they had boarded a rubber boat on the Libyan coast on April 14 , which had 105 passengers aboard . During the crossing , a fight broke out over religion , with the group of Muslim passengers threatening the Nigerians and Ghanaians after the latter declared themselves to be Christians . 'The threats then materialised and 12 people , all Nigerian and Ghanaian , are believed to have drowned in the Mediterranean , ' the police statement added . The 15 migrants arrested over the attack on their arrival in Palermo are from the Ivory Coast , Senegal , Mali and Guinea Bissau . A group of 15 Muslim men , from the Ivory Coast , Senegal , Mali and Guinea Bissau , have now been arrested on suspicion of 'multiple aggravated murder motivated by religious hate ' ( not pictured ) Italian Red Cross operators give first aid to immigrants as they arrive in the Italian port of Messina yesterday . This week , Italian coastguards intercepted more than 42 boats attempting to make the crossing to Europe . The police statement said their motive for the attack was that the victims 'professed the Christian faith while the aggressors were Muslim . ' This followed reports earlier today of a shipwreck feared to have cost 41 lives off the Italian coast . Four men , two Nigerians , a Ghanaian and one from Niger , who had been rescued while floating in the Mediterranean by an Italian Navy helicopter reported the shipwreck once they arrived in the Italian port of Trapani today . They said had left Tripoli in Libya on Saturday and stayed adrift for four days . The new tragedies come just days after aid agencies reported 400 presumed dead in the sinking of another ship near the Libyan coast . The deaths have raised calls for a more robust search and rescue of the seas between Libya and Europe amid a surge in migration between the Middle East and Africa toward Italy .
Migrants from Nigeria and Ghana drown after being thrown overboard . Fight broke out on rubber dinghy carrying 15 from Libya to Italy . The men were thrown into sea 'for professing the Christian faith ' 15 men arrested for 'aggravated murder motivated by religious hate '