There was unexpected drama in the port of Catania, Sicily on Monday night as two of 27 survivors of last weekend's boat people tragedy were immediately arrested.
When the Italian coastguard ship, Gregoretti, arrived in port with the survivors of the sinking in which between 700 and 900 people lost their lives early on Sunday morning, two of them were immediately arrested and taken into police custody.
The two men are the boat’s captain, a Tunisian, and one of his helpers, a Syrian. Both are being charged with manslaughter, shipwreck and the promotion of clandestine immigration.
Confirmation of the arrests came from cabinet undersecretary and infrastructure minister, Giovanni Delrio, who was on the harbour front last night to officially acknowledge the arrival of the survivors.
Speaking with reporters, Mr Delrio said that the survivors were all physically and mentally exhausted and traumatised after their ordeal, but they had all expressed their gratitude at being rescued. The survivors, all men, arrived at just before midnight in Catania harbour on the Italian coastguard ship, Gregoretti, which had earlier in the day stopped in Malta to unload the bodies of 24 victims.
Although the huge international media presence was kept back at some distance from the boat, it was still possible to see the survivors walk wearily off the ship, with one requiring a wheelchair.
The last two men off, however, were taken directly to a police van rather than into the reception tent which had been set up for the other men.
Public prosecutor Giovanni Salvi, who was also on the harbour front, told reporters that the two men arrested had been identified thanks to the testimony of other survivors. On the ship on the way over from Malta, investigating magistrates had already begun their investigations.
Several of the survivors identified the men as the two boat traffickers in charge of the ill-fated fishing vessel. Furthermore, a 28th survivor, who is currently in hospital in Catania, independently identified both men when shown photographs of them.
Initial enquiries would appear to confirm the worse suspicions of the rescue service. Namely, that the small overcrowded fishing vessel had three “levels” with 250 women and 50 children locked into the lowest level, an unknown number of men locked into level two and then the captain and a small number of men up on deck.
Only those who were on deck appear to have survived, with the other migrants left with no possible escape route and going down with the boat.
The survivors, who are all young men, come from Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and also Bangladesh. Even as they were being taken off to the nearby Mineo migrant centre, reports were coming in of two further rescue operations ongoing last night off the Libyan coast with a reported loss of a further 20 lives.
Those reports came at the end of a day which saw three people drown when a fragile wooden boat, carrying about 80 people, ran aground off the Greek coast close to Rhodes.
As the European Union prepares to hold an emergency summit on Thursday to deal with the boat people crisis, reports continue to arrive from Libya indicating there may be as many as 300-400,000 people waiting there, ready to take advantage of the milder spring weather and attempt the hazardous Mediterranean crossing.