Five people have been arrested on suspicion of murder after more than a dozen illegal immigrants were thrown from a boat in a voodoo ritual to calm stormy seas, an Italian prosecutor has revealed

Survivors gave police a horrific account of how human sacrifices were picked from a ship crammed with 400 people after the engine failed. The captain, a Nigerian, picked the victims on the basis of ethnic background or nationality. Witnesses described a number of women performing a macabre magic dance before the victims were flung overboard to calm the seas and placate the devil. The ship was sailing from Libya to the Italian island of Lampedusa, which has been inundated with refugees fleeing the troubles in the Middle East and Africa. It was eventually escorted into harbor by coastguards after sending a mayday signal. When the boat reached Lampedusa, 25 illegal immigrants were found dead in the hold. They had suffocated due to the poisonous fumes from the engine and the cramped squalid conditions on board. Dozens of others were rushed to hospital suffering from dehydration and exhaustion. Police on the island carried out a three month investigation and have now held five West African men, aged between 28 and 44. Prosecutor Ignazio Fonzo led the investigation and the suspects - who were granted leave to stay on humanitarian grounds - were held after a series of raids across southern Italy. Voodoo is practiced across much of west Africa and in particular Nigeria and Ghana.