Italian police say they have detained 15 Muslim migrants who are accused of murdering a dozen Christian migrants while making the crossing from Libya.
Authorities say they believe religious unrest broke out on their rubber raft with some 100 migrants onboard headed for the Italian island of Lampedusa.
The 12 victims are from Nigeria and Ghana.
The incident comes amid a massive influx of African migrants attempting to make their way to Lampedusa over the past week.
Leopoldo Manna is with the Italian Coast Guard.
"We have had very big numbers of migrants arriving since last weekend until today. We have saved more than 10,000 people. The nationalities are various, but the most significant arrivals are the ones from Syria, Lebanon, from the Horn of Africa, Somalia and Eritrea."
It's estimated more than 500 migrants have died in the Mediterranean since the start of the year.
Italy is pleading with the European Union for more help in dealing with the situation.
