Italy's law enforcement agencies have begun an investigation concerning the deaths of 26 African women and adolescents who were found in the Mediterranean the day before, reports the BBC News.
Italian investigators have suspicions that women, most of whom are Nigerian citizens, were sexually assaulted and then killed when they tried to get to Europe by sea.
According to the Italian media, at present the police interrogate five migrants in the southern port of Salerno. 23 of the dead women were in a rubber boat with 64 other people, most of them were aged 14-18.