Four migrants working as fruit pickers in southern Italy were burned alive in a car at a petrol station in Amendolara, in the Calabria region near Cosenza. The victims, three Afghans and one Pakistani national, were found in a burned-out van. Surveillance cameras at the garage captured two people setting the vehicle alight before fleeing the scene.
Italian police have arrested two Pakistani nationals on charges of aggravated murder. Public prosecutor Alessandro D’Alessio is leading the investigation into the deaths.
The immigrants had been working in slave-like conditions, apparently as part of a system of criminal labor trafficking. This grisly murder case has prompted fresh national soul-searching over the widespread exploitation of foreign farm workers in the region.