Police arrest Libyan, Algerian traffickers over migrant shipwreck deaths

Italian police said they arrested three Libyans and two Algerians on Friday accused of multiple homicide and human trafficking in connection with the presumed death by drowning of more than 200 migrants in the Mediterranean, police said.

The five, who had been held for questioning on Thursday night, were arrested in Palermo, where survivors of Wednesday's shipwreck arrived.

Police allege migrants were beaten and stabbed during the voyage, with many locked in the hold.