The gruesome discovery Sunday of the bodies of more than two dozen migrant women in the Mediterranean Sea has left Italian officials wondering whether the women were purposely killed, and why all who died were female.
Lorena Ciccotti, police chief in the southern Italian port city of Salerno, told CNN that officials have launched an investigation into the women's cause of the death to see if they had been tortured or sexually assaulted. Officials believe the 26 women, who are all Nigerian and range from 14 to 18 years old, died attempting the dangerous journey from Libya to Europe over the weekend.