The captain and another crew member were arrested by Italian police
after a group of 27 survivors from the tragedy arrived in the Sicilian
port of Catania on Monday evening.
The skipper, Tunisian Mohammed Ali Malek, has been charged with people
trafficking and reckless multiple homicide in relation to the disaster.
It was caused by Malek ramming his boat by mistake into a cargo rescue
ship and then migrants moving around the unbalanced vessel which
capsized, said prosecutors.
The number of migrants who have died making the Mediterranean crossing
to Europe so far this year is around 1,750 - some 30 times higher than
for the same period in 2014, said the International Organisation for
Migration.
Those who escaped with their lives described to officials the moment the
20m (70ft) trawler carrying them capsized after a Portuguese merchant
ship approached the vessel, causing a stampede.
