Smugglers held after diabetic girl dies on boat

Police in Sicily have arrested three Egyptians who allegedly were in charge of a smuggling boat on which a 10-year-old Syrian girl with diabetes died after the smugglers threw her insulin overboard.

The 335 migrants arrived in Sicily, on Wednesday after a week at sea. They had left port near Alexandria, Egypt, according to Save the Children. Agency spokeswoman Giovanna di Benedetto said the parents reported that as soon as the family of eight boarded, the traffickers threw the backpack containing the insulin overboard. She died during the trip. The ANSA news agency said three Egyptians were arrested on suspicion of aiding illegal immigration, though not with homicide, since the smugglers who threw the insulin overboard were purportedly the trip organisers in Egypt.

Premier Matteo Renzi mentioned the girls’ death in a speech on Saturday to calm mounting tensions in Italy over resettling would-be refugees, whose numbers have taxed Italy’s overcrowded refugee centres.