Police in the southern Italian region of Calabria have arrested two suspects in the case of the deaths of four labor migrants, who, according to investigators, were burned alive in a vehicle.
The detainees are citizens of Pakistan, like some of the deceased, who worked in agriculture, reports NOS.
The bodies of the victims were discovered by firefighters on Monday afternoon in a completely burnt-out minibus, local media report. The attack was captured on surveillance cameras, and footage was shown the night before by the Italian channel RAI.
According to journalists, the crime has shocked Italy. The video shows two men at a gas station in the village of Amendolara pouring flammable liquid inside the vehicle, igniting it with a lighter, and then blocking the doors, preventing people from escaping.
Firefighters arrived at the scene around 1:00 PM. After extinguishing the fire, they found four charred bodies inside. Italian media report that a fifth person managed to escape. He suffered burns and was hospitalized.
The survivor told police that he was able to leave the minibus by breaking one of the windows. He stated that he is a citizen of Afghanistan. Among the deceased were three Afghans and one Pakistani. All of them worked in agriculture in Calabria—a region known for its fruit and olive cultivation, as well as low wages for agricultural workers.
The suspects were identified thanks to surveillance camera footage. They were detained by police the day before. According to the Italian agency ANSA, there has long been a tense situation among labor migrants in Calabria.
The motive for the crime remains unknown. However, the surviving Afghan stated that the detainees refused to pay him and the deceased for their work on strawberry plantations.
"They didn’t give us money. They provided food, offered housing, but didn’t pay," the man told a local news portal.
According to him, the suspects also demanded that the migrants drive them around in the minibus for free.
Italy's largest union, CGIL, has called on authorities to take action against the "horrors of everyday life faced by labor migrants in rural areas." The president of the Calabria region, Roberto Occhiuto, described the incident as "inhumane."
The tragedy in Calabria has once again drawn attention to the harsh living and working conditions of seasonal migrant workers in Italy. The investigation continues to clarify the circumstances of the crime and the motives of the suspects, but the incident has already sparked widespread public outcry and calls to strengthen the protection of labor migrants' rights.
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