By John Phillips
ROME
The captain of the migrant boat that capsized in the Mediterranean Sea at the weekend has been charged over the estimated 820 deaths, Italian police said Tuesday.
The Tunisian captain and a Syrian crew member were charged with reckless multiple homicide and people trafficking after they were identified by survivors arriving in the port of Catania.
The men -- identified as captain Mohammed Ali Malek, 27, and crew member Mahmud Bikhit, 25, by Italian prosecutors -- had arrived on a rescue boat with more than two dozen survivors in the Sicilian city late on Monday.
Following interviews with some of those aboard the vessel when it capsized Saturday evening, investigators determined that the overloaded ship collided with the Portuguese-flagged merchant ship King Jacob as it tried to assist the migrants.
Estimates on the number of people aboard the have varied between 700 and 950 but Italian magistrates now believe around 850 people were on board.
Survivors told staff from the UN’s refugee agency that the captain had "wanted to steer the boat but at the same time hide himself among us," according to the ANSA news agency.
As the boat was about to collide with the freighter, panic broke out, survivors said.
"Everyone became agitated, those [who] were below deck felt the collision but couldn't see anything and wanted to go on deck," one passenger told UN workers. "Some of the people on the bridge were thrown into the water immediately. The boat began moving more and more and then overturned."
Prosecutors in Sicilian capital Palermo said they had discovered and dismantled a trafficking gang responsible for most of the recent migrant arrivals from Libya.
A judicial official said 15 suspects had been arrested on people trafficking charges, adding that the gang had received 100 million euros over the last two years for ferrying people to Europe.
