A distraught mother told police how a migrant strangled her daughter to death when their boat sank in the Mediterranean.
According to statements from the investigation, obtained by MailOnline, the man, identified as Iranian Haukar Ahmadi, 27, attacked Ghater Maylan, 16, when the boat took on water.
In her statement, Mojda Omar, 41, said: ‘Suddenly, that man, Haukar, approached my daughter and jumped on her, put both knees on her chest, pressing with all his strength on her body.
“I tried to scream at him to stop, telling him to get away from my daughter, but he continued doing what he was doing until she died.”
The horrific incident occurred earlier this week when the boat the group was traveling on, packed with around 70 migrants, sank in waters off the southern coast of Italy after leaving the Turkish port of Bodrum.
The images show the sailboat completely submerged with a coast guard ship next to it.
Some of the migrants were rescued by a merchant ship which later transferred them to a Coast Guard unit. They landed in Roccella Ionica, southern Italy, on 17 June 2024.
However, police told MailOnline that the woman has not reported her daughter being raped, despite previous claims that were widely reported in Italian media, including first by the respected AGI news agency. This was attributed to a translation error.
Gianfranco Minissale, who is leading the investigation, said: “The woman is obviously very traumatized by what she saw happen to her daughter and the journey they made from Turkey.
‘We are investigating the murder allegations and the man has been arrested but we have not received the girl’s body.
‘The mother has been interviewed and we will be interviewing the other survivors, but at the moment the only crime being investigated is murder, we are not investigating rape, there was a translation error.
‘An investigating judge has confirmed the arrest and the man is in prison while the investigation continues. It is a very traumatic case for the officers involved and also for the woman.’
Ahmadi is said to have “vented his fury” on Ghater after seeing his own daughter drown when the boat sank, and only 12 people were rescued by the Italian coastguard, including Ahmadi and Mojda.
Only half of those who drowned have been recovered and among them are many children, and images from the Italian coast guard showed the boat submerged in the water off the coast of Rocella Ionica on the “tip” of Italy.
Police said Ahmadi’s wife and daughter had drowned and he was now being held in Catanzaro prison as investigations continued while Mojda was in a local hospital.
Search teams recovered some of the bodies of the approximately 70 people on board the sailboat.
In her statement, Mojda added: “Until then, before the attack, my daughter was speaking and was fine.
‘Although I had drunk a lot of sea water in the previous days, I was sick and had little strength. I told her we were almost there and for her to stay strong.
“Then this man threw himself on top of her and I never heard from her again. I think she died instantly because after being suffocated she showed no signs of life.”
According to police present when she gave her statement, Mojda burst into tears and added: ‘My son Naser went to see his sister after Haukar suffocated her and realised she was no longer breathing.
“None of us could do anything because we had no strength, we were exhausted.”
The coast guard boat is seen approaching the yacht as it sinks and disappears underwater.
A survivor is treated by medical teams after being rescued from the shipwreck on June 17
Mojda told police that other migrants aboard the semi-submerged boat had died and that he had trampled over their bodies to reach his daughter.
She added: ‘Then I thought he was going to kill me too because he put his knees on my throat.
‘From the beginning of the trip he behaved strangely. At first I thought he wanted to rape my daughter, but then I thought she would calm down.
He then argued with my son as the days went by, as my son had asked him to help him move the body of my husband, who died on board, but he refused.
“Three hours before he killed my daughter, she was wearing trousers and Haukar was shouting at her to take them off, he wanted to see her naked.”
Antonio Cavo, who has been appointed to defend Ahmadi, said: “At this time my client has not given me permission to speak to the media, once I have seen him and spoken to him I will be able to speak.”