The United Nations says the deliberate sinking of a migrant ship off the coast of Malta earlier this month could amount to mass murder. As many as 500 people were reportedly killed when traffickers rammed their boat in an apparent act against rival smugglers. Denouncing the attack, United Nations refugee agency spokesperson Rupert Colville called for the attackers to be brought to justice.

Rupert Colville: “The callous act of deliberately ramming a boat full of hundreds of defenseless people is a crime that must not go unpunished. If the survivors’ accounts are indeed true — and they appear all too credible — we are looking at what amounts to mass murder in the Mediterranean. The reaction should not be any less rigorous just because the victims are foreigners and the crime took place on the high seas. Yet very few people who kill, rape or rob migrants during their journeys end up in court.”

According to reports, up to 400 passengers were Palestinian refugees fleeing the Gaza Strip. Many had paid thousands of dollars to sneak out of Gaza for the Europe-bound ship. Another 15 Palestinian migrants from Gaza reportedly died in another ship sinking the same week.