4 migrant farm workers in Italy burned to death in car, according to survivor, police

Four migrants working as fruit pickers in slave-like conditions in southern Italy were burned to death — a ‌murder case that’s prompting fresh national soul searching over the exploitation of farm workers.

The four were found on Monday in a burned-out van parked in a petrol station in Amendolara, in the southern region of Calabria. Surveillance cameras showed two people ​setting the car alight before running away.

“In 30 years of ​work, I have never seen such cruelty,” public prosecutor Alessandro D’Alessio, who is leading the investigation, told reporters on Wednesday.

The sole survivor, Taj Mohammad Alamyar, ​said the migrants were being driven home by their two Pakistani gangmasters after a ⁠day of picking ⁠strawberries.

They stopped at the petrol station, but ‌instead of refuelling, they doused the car with petrol and set it alight after locking the passengers inside, Alamyar said, adding he managed to escape through the vehicle’s trunk.

“We started screaming, but they opened the back door and threw a lighter inside. ⁠In an instant, it was hell,” he told La Repubblica newspaper.

Suspects not identified

Roberto Occhiuto, Calabria’s regional president, said Italy had profound lessons to learn from the episode.

“It is an appalling story, which shakes our ‌consciences and raises profound questions about the tragedy of migration, the value of human dignity and the responsibilities a civilized society must assume toward the most vulnerable,” he said.

Labour exploitation of immigrants is a chronic problem in Italy, sometimes ​with deadly consequences. According to the Placido Rizzotto Observatory think-tank, about 30 per cent of farm workers were working off the books ⁠in 2023.

In interviews with several Italian media outlets, the survivor of Monday’s attack appeared with bandages ⁠on his hands and right arm. He said three of the dead were fellow ⁠Afghans and ⁠the fourth was Pakistani.

Prosecutors from the ​nearby town of Castrovillari said two foreign nationals had been detained on suspicion of committing multiple and ​aggravated murder.

The suspects weren’t ⁠named, and it wasn’t possible for Reuters to obtain comments from them.

Alamyar said the fruit pickers had argued with their gangmasters over money. He said they were promised a daily pay of €45 ($72 Cdn) for eight hours of work, but had received no money since April 20.

Pope to visit ports of call for migrants

Pope Leo is scheduled to travel July 4 to Lampedusa, the Italian island south of Sicily where many migrants first arrive via boats. In April, Italy’s coast guard recovered the bodies of ​19 migrants and rescued 58 survivors from a boat that broke ‌down while trying to cross to Europe from Libya.

On Saturday, Leo will travel from the Vatican to Spain, where we will visit migrants in the Canary Islands who braved dangerous Atlantic waters to enter Europe. More than 3,000 people died in 2025 trying to ​reach the Canary Islands, often in makeshift dinghies, according to Caminando Fronteras, a non-governmental organization.

The attack was discovered the same day European Union lawmakers and governments agreed on new rules allowing countries to send migrants ordered to leave the bloc to centres in third countries, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from rights groups that warn it could enable abuses.

The deal struck Monday is part of a broader tightening of EU migration policy amid pressure from right-wing parties, even as irregular arrivals fell 26 per cent last year to their lowest level since 2021.

EU countries say they struggle to ensure that rejected asylum seekers and visa overstayers leave their territory. The commission says only about 20 per cent of people ordered to leave currently do so.

Under the new rules, EU states would be able to establish “return hubs” outside the bloc for people whose asylum claims have been rejected or who have been ordered to leave the EU. Deportees could be sent to hubs in countries where they don’t have connections.