The Interior Ministry has opened an investigation into the death of 15 migrants in Sabratha who, according to locals, died in a dispute between two groups of people smugglers.
The Red Crescent of Sabratha branch said on Friday that its team recovered 15 bodies on the city's coast, some burned in a boat and others lying on the beach.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Abdel Moneim Al-Arabi, said the Sabratha security directorate arrested five Ethiopians believed to have information about the crime.
According to Al-Arabi, six migrants of Bangladeshi nationality survived the incident and received medical treatment.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior, Bashir Al-Amin, directed the immediate investigation and assigned a Sabratha Public Prosecution Office member to open the investigations, Al-Arabi said.
Sabratha Municipality denounced the heinous crime and called on the authorities to assume their responsibilities and prosecute the perpetrators.
