Two Pakistani Nationals Arrested for Murder of Four Migrant Farm Workers in Calabria Minivan Fire

Italian police have arrested two Pakistani nationals on suspicion of murdering four migrant workers whose bodies were discovered in a burnt-out minivan. The vehicle was located at a petrol station within a sprawling agricultural area in Italy’s southern Calabria region.

CCTV footage reportedly depicts two individuals preventing the van's doors from opening and dousing the interior with a flammable liquid before igniting it. This incident follows a series of 14 arson attacks targeting vehicles used by Pakistani workers in the region, an area marked by friction over the allocation of farm labour and accommodation.

Firefighters, responding to reports of a burning van on Tuesday afternoon, extinguished the blaze to find four charred bodies inside. The arrests of the two suspects were made based on evidence from the surveillance footage.

A fifth man, an Afghan national, reportedly survived the attack by escaping through a window. He alleged that the deceased included three Afghans and one Pakistani, all engaged in agricultural work. The survivor further claimed the incident stemmed from a dispute after the arrested individuals demanded transport money, which the workers refused to pay. He also stated that the victims had not received wages for their labour in local strawberry fields, despite being provided with food and lodging.

Calabria’s regional president, Roberto Occhiuto, condemned the killings as “inhuman”. The CGIL union has called for urgent measures to address the “abominations of daily life endured by workers, often migrants, in our countryside.”